Red Strings and Paw Prints
by Ecofinisher
Summary: A Fox AU. Nathaniel is the last of his kind and has to go to Italy to mate with the last female of his kind. He got into trouble along with the vixen and they land in a illegal dog fighting house and escape from there, thanks to Lila. Lila will have to help Nathaniel in finding his owner again, but what they don't know is, that someone has lied an eye on them...
1. The Tomato Fox

**I got inspired by Rio, Sunshine Story and the fox couple from The Fox and the Hound to make this fic. Hope you guys like it.**

 **BTW. The cover doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Sunshine Story. She had made it for this fic :3**

 **Chapter 1**

Inside a forest there were several fox kits playing around together, hunting each other.

"Come on and get me!" Told a fox kit running behind another one.

"Come back brother!" Demanded the fox kit running behind its sibling. The foxes passed by a tree with a whole, where there stood another fox kit along with an adult fox observing the others playing.

"Look it's a great day to play with the others," Said the adult fox looking down at the little cub. The cub looked at all the gray colored companions then looked back at himself. He looked different, his fur was tomato red and from his snout up down to the end and inside of his hind legs he was creamy white colored. The kit hid behind the adult fox from the others and the adult fox looked down at the boy.

"Come on boy, don't be so shy," Said the adult. "They are all nice. Come let's go to them" Said the fox leaving the cave, then the boy walked slowly behind its father.

"Dad wait" Called the son following his father, which stopped in the middle of the other vulpes.

"Hi" Greeted one of the cubs, which was a male too. "Wanna play?" Asked the cub looking at the boy, which got a bit nervous.

"Come, my son, go," Told his father and the fox kit raised his butt and tail up and stretched his front legs down to accept the invitation of the other gray fox.

"Great let's go!" Shouted the gray cub and ran off. The red fox looked at his father, which nodded and the boy followed the light colored fox through the place.

"Be careful you two," Said the fox.

Both cubs ran the forest along together chuckling, then the red fox jumped at the gray and pulled him on a fight while gekkering at each other. Around the place, there were a few bushes and one of them shook a little bit, causing both of the foxes to hear.

"Did you hear that?" Asked the gray fox getting off the other one and looked at the bush along with the tomato colored kit. Both observed the bush moving, then the red walked a bit closer to the bush, then he saw big, brown eyes looking out of the bush and a growl coming out of it.

"Ah!" Screamed the red fox and a big brown Airedale Terrier showed up and caused the two kits to ran away, then followed them while barking.

At the other places the father of the tomato colored fox observed the other kits playing along with a few other parents foxes, then one of the other parents heard the other two yelping for help.

"Do you foxes hear that?" Asked one of the parents, which was a female and saw the two cubs, being followed by a malicious dog.

"It's hunting season!" Shouted another fox and the foxes and vixens picked up a few pups and ran off, followed by a few cubs, they couldn't pick up.

"Daddy wait!" Shouted the tomato kit behind the others.

"Just follow us son" Mumbled the fox's his father, which carried two other foxes in his mouth.

"Wait daddy!" Called the puppy running behind the other foxes. Suddenly they heard gun shots and one of the adult foxes got hit by a bullet and fell down along with the pups.

"Mommy, mommy!" Called the puppies looking at the mother, which got injured.

"Oh my fox!" Shouted one of the adult foxes and came back to call the other kits to follow them.

"Keep running my son, don't look back" Demanded the father of the red fox kit, which obeyed. A few more shots went off and now the father of the kit got injured and the boy stopped and looked at his father shocked.

"Daddy!" Cried the cub looking sadly at his father.

"Run my kids, go to mamma and save yourselves" Demanded the father.

"Tod no!" Shouted a female fox from the far.

"Mommy!" Shouted the tomato colored kit and made his way up to, where he heard the voice and saw on the other side of the forest a vixen standing, looking shocked at the sight of the injured foxes.

"Mommy help!" Called the kit and the mother ran down at the kit, but before she could arrive down, she was also shot by the hunters and she ended up falling down. "Mommy!" Shouted the cub running towards her. He lied down in front of her with his body shrunken, then looked up at his mother. "Mommy? Mommy!"

"R...run my son," Told the mother, before closing her eyes and letting her head fell down. The pup lied down his head near the mother's cheek, then started to sob at the loss of his family.

"Mommy!" Cried the kit in tears.

Around the places appeared two humans along with the brown dog from before and looked at their score.

"The fur will make us rich," Said the first hunter. The second observed the tomato fox kit crying by his mother.

"Not only the fur," Said the second hunter taking the kit by its fur on his back, making him whine louder. "Those little fur balls too. You know how many money one of this guys brings if we export them to South America?"

"A lot I believe" Responded the guy and after a while, they had loaded their jeep with the fur of the adult foxes and the kits were all put in a small cage. The tomato fox colored fox was the only one to be alone in a cage. He observed along with the other pups the fur, that belonged to foxes, that they used to call their parents. The red fox observed the other kits crying and whining about the loss of their parents and the inhumanity of act they did in front of the cubs with the fur of their parents.

"I'm afraid," Said a female kit leaning her head to a fox next to her, which was the sibling.

"We will get out of here sister, I promise," Said the brother trying to comfort the younger sister of him. The red fox lied down and covered his face, shivering from the fright of, what was waiting for the rest of the others.

* * *

In a lycée inside the great city Paris, students were leaving school and heading home. A blue colored girl left the school sadly. Behind her walked up an Asian guy, followed by a dark skinned boy and they passed by the girl.

"Marinette hey" Greeted the Asian stopping the bluenette.

"Hey Kim, hey Max" Responded Marinette sad.

"Hey uh..." Said Kim scratching the back of his head.

"About your friend, we're so sorry about what happened" Said Max. "He and the others didn't mean this to happen"

"I swear if we knew this would happen, we wouldn't have continued. I swear!" Explained Kim shocked, then Marinette sighed.

"I'm so sorry guys, could you just leave me alone for a while?" Asked Marinette and they nodded. Marinette walked away and made her way up to the house next to the school, which was the house, where she lived.

She entered into the house and made her way up into her room and threw herself up to the couch in her room. She then started to cry into a pillow, she had in her room.

"Marinette, you're already home?" Asked her mother, which entered into her room and saw her crying on the couch. She walked up at Marinette, then placed her arm on the shoulder of her daughter.

"Listen I know how much he meant to you, but you gotta move on now," Said Sabine and Marinette looked up at her desk, at the wall, which contained pictures of her with a red headed boy.

"He was my best friend, why did he do this?" Whined Marinette crying out loud.

"Uh listen….I think I'm calling Ms Charmack to cancel the babysitting of Manon" Said Sabine. "I think you're not in a good state to do it," Said Ms. Cheng and left her daughter alone and made her way down to the living room, giving one last sad look at the bluenette. Marinette kept sobbing and took her phone out from her purse to check her messages and saw various messages of her classmates asking about her state and she threw it up at her desk.

A loud noise sounded around the place and Marinette looked out of the window and saw a small plane with burning propeller making his way down at the seine crashing into the river.

"What happened?" Asked Marinette passing her hands in front of her eyes and made her way up to the roof balcony then looked down at the river, where the plane swam.

"Nothing seemed to have happened to him" Said Marinette sad, then she heard a strange sound and looked around. "What is this?" Asked the blue-haired girl looking around the balcony for the sound. She looked up at the cover over the roof and saw a cage there with a dark red fox puppy with one of its paws clamped under the grid of the cage. The cub whined while he lied in there with his paw injured.

"Oh no," Said Marinette and picked the cage up, while giving a look at it to find a door to free the baby. She found it and opened it to remove the tomato red kit from there. "My poor little guy" Said Marinette taking it into her arms. "What is a cutie like you doing here?" Asked Marinette, then she heard police sirens and saw a man being arrested by the cops down at the seine and a few other agents of the police taking cages out with a few cubs of certain animals. Some were awake others seemed to be in a deep sleep or in an eternal one. Marinette got sad about seeing it and took the fox, she found down into her parents' house. "Mamam, Papa look what I found," Told Marinette and heard her mother scream, making her and the father laugh.

* * *

Marinette's parents had gone with her and the little fox kit to the vet to check his leg and remove his plaster from it and now they were home. Marinette had arrived from school and went up to the living room to catch the cub doing cute little jumps on the couch like a playful puppy dog.

"Aww" Replied Marinette putting her school bag down, then opened the bag and took out a squeaky toy, which was formed like a chicken. She bent down, looking at the tomato colored pet. "Nathaniel look, what I got for you," Said Marinette and the kit walked up at the blueberry haired girl, then sniffed on the toy, then started to shake his rear, wanting to play with Marinette.

"Yeah come let's have some fun" Said Marinette and the cub bit the head of the chicken, causing it to squeak. Nathaniel stopped and tilted his head, by hearing the sound. He bit it again and went back again, doing the same movement again, after the noise of the squeaking toy, making Marinette laugh.

"He's supposed to do this Nath" Said Marinette then sighed and stood up leaving the fox kit behind and looked at the fridge at a drawing of herself with another guy with long hair and covering the right eye of him with a bang from the hairstyle. Marinette sighed again and passed her hand on the drawing.

"I wish you still were here" Said Marinette looking at the sketch and from her bluebell eyes, came out a tear as she thought about her redhead friend from the drawing. Inside a forest there were several fox kits playing around together, hunting each other.

"Come on and get me!" Told a fox kit running behind another one.

"Come back, brother!" Demanded the fox kit running behind its sibling. The foxes passed by a tree with a whole, where there stood another fox kit along with an adult fox observing the others playing.

"Look it's a great day to play with the others." Said the adult fox looking down at the little cub. The cub looked at all the gray colored companions then looked back at himself. He looked different, his fur was tomato red and from his snout up down to the end and inside of his hind legs he was creamy white colored. The kit hid behind the adult fox from the others and the adult fox looked down at the boy.

"Come on boy, don't be so shy." Said the adult. "They are all nice. Come let's go to them" Said the fox leaving the cave, then the boy walked slowly behind its father.

"Dad wait" Called the son following his father, which stopped in the middle of the other vulpes.

"Hi" Greeted one of the cubs, which was a male too. "Wanna play?" Asked the cub looking at the boy, which got a bit nervous.

"Come, my son, go." Told his father and the fox kit raised his butt and tail up and stretched his front legs down to accept the invitation of the other gray fox.

"Great let's go!" Shouted the gray cub and ran off. The red fox looked at his father, which nodded and the boy followed the light colored fox through the place.

"Be careful you two." Said the fox.

Both cubs ran the forest along together chuckling, then the red fox jumped at the gray and pulled him on a fight while gekkering at each other. Around the place, there were a few bushes and one of them shook a little bit, causing both of the foxes to hear.

"Did you hear that?" Asked the gray fox getting off the other one and looked at the bush along with the tomato colored kit. Both observed the bush moving, then the red walked a bit closer to the bush, then he saw big, brown eyes looking out of the bush and a growl coming out of it.

"Ah!" Screamed the red fox and a big brown Airedale Terrier showed up and caused the two kits to ran away, then followed them while barking.

At the other places the father of the tomato colored fox observed the other kits playing along with a few other parents foxes, then one of the other parents heard the other two yelping for help.

"Do you foxes hear that?" Asked one of the parents, which was a female and saw the two cubs, being followed by a malicious dog.

"It's hunting season!" Shouted another fox and the foxes and vixens picked up a few pups and ran off, followed by a few cubs, they couldn't pick up.

"Daddy wait!" Shouted the tomato kit behind the others.

"Just follow us son" Mumbled the fox's his father, which carried two other foxes in his mouth.

"Wait daddy!" Called the puppy running behind the other foxes. Suddenly they heard gun shots and one of the adult foxes got hit by a bullet and fell down along with the pups.

"Mommy, mommy!" Called the puppies looking at the mother, which got injured.

"Oh my fox!" Shouted one of the adult foxes and came back to call the other kits to follow them.

"Keep running my son, don't look back" Demanded the father of the red fox kit, which obeyed. A few more shots went off and now the father of the kit got injured and the boy stopped and looked at his father shocked.

"Daddy!" Cried the cub looking sadly at his father.

"Run my kids, go to mamma and save yourselves" Demanded the father.

"Tod no!" Shouted a female fox from the far.

"Mommy!" Shouted the tomato colored kit and made his way up to, where he heard the voice and saw on the other side of the forest a vixen standing, looking shocked at the sight of the injured foxes.

"Mommy help!" Called the kit and the mother ran down at the kit, but before she could arrive down, she was also shot by the hunters and she ended up falling down. "Mommy!" Shouted the cub running towards her. He lied down in front of her with his body shrunken, then looked up at his mother. "Mommy? Mommy!"

"R...run my son." Told the mother, before closing her eyes and letting her head fell down. The pup lied down his head near the mother's cheek, then started to sob at the loss of his family.

"Mommy!" Cried the kit in tears.

Around the places appeared two humans along with the brown dog from before and looked at their score.

"The fur will make us rich." Said the first hunter. The second observed the tomato fox kit crying by his mother.

"Not only the fur." Said the second hunter taking the kit by its fur on his back, making him whine louder. "Those little fur balls too. You know how many money one of this guys brings if we export them to South America?"

"A lot I believe" Responded the guy and after a while, they had loaded their jeep with the fur of the adult foxes and the kits were all in putting in a small cage. The tomato fox colored fox was the only one to be alone in a cage. He observed along with the other pups the fur, that belonged to foxes, that they used to call their parents. The red fox observed the other kits crying and whining about the loss of their parents and the inhumanity of act they did in front of the cubs with the fur of their parents.

"I'm afraid." Said a female kit leaning her head to a fox next to her, which was the sibling.

"We will get out of here sister, I promise." Said the brother trying to comfort the younger sister of him. The red fox lied down and covered his face, shivering from the fright of, what was waiting for the rest of the others.

In a lycée inside the great city of Paris, students were leaving school and heading home. A blue colored girl left the school sadly. Behind her walked up an Asian guy, followed by a dark skinned boy and they passed by the girl.

"Marinette hey" Greeted the Asian stopping the bluenette.

"Hey Kim, hey Max" Responded Marinette sad.

"Hey uh..." Said Kim scratching the back of his head.

"About your friend, we're so sorry about what happened" Said Max. "He and the others didn't mean this to happen"

"I swear if we knew this would happen, we wouldn't have continued. I swear!" Explained Kim shocked, then Marinette sighed.

"I'm so sorry guys, could you just leave me alone for a while?" Asked Marinette and they nodded. Marinette walked away and made her way up to the house next to the school, which was the house, where she lived.

She entered the house and made her way up into her room and threw herself up to the couch in her room. She then started to cry into a pillow, she had in her room.

"Marinette, you're already home?" Asked her mother, which entered her room and saw her crying on the couch. She walked up at Marinette, then placed her arm on the shoulder of her daughter.

"Listen I know how much he meant to you, but you gotta move on now." Said Sabine and Marinette looked up at her desk, at the wall, which contained pictures of her with a red headed boy.

"He was my best friend, why did he do this?" Whined Marinette crying out loud.

"Uh listen….I think I'm calling Ms. Charmack to cancel the babysitting of Manon" Said Sabine. "I think you're not in a good state to do it." Said Ms. Cheng and left her daughter alone and made her way down to the living room, giving one last sad look at the bluenette. Marinette kept sobbing and took her phone out from her purse to check her messages and saw various messages of her classmates asking about her state and she threw it up at her desk.

A loud noise sounded around the place and Marinette looked out of the window and saw a small plane with burning propeller making his way down at the seine crashing into the river.

"What happened?" Asked Marinette passing her hands in front of her eyes and made her way up to the roof balcony then looked down at the river, where the plane swam.

"Nothing seemed to have happened to him." Said Marinette sad, then she heard a strange sound and looked around. "What is this?" Asked the blue-haired girl looking around the balcony for the sound. She looked up at the cover over the roof and saw a cage there with a dark red fox puppy with one of its paws clamped under the grid of the cage. The cub whined while he lied in there with his paw injured.

"Oh no." Said Marinette and picked the cage up, while giving a look at it to find a door to free the baby. She found it and opened it to remove the tomato red kit from there. "My poor little guy" Said Marinette taking it into her arms. "What is a cutie like you doing here?" Asked Marinette, then she heard police sirens and saw a man being arrested by the cops down at the seine and a few other agents of the police taking cages out with a few cubs of certain animals. Some were awake others seemed to be in a deep sleep or in an eternal one. Marinette got sad about seeing it and took the fox, she found down in her parents' house. "Mamam, Papa look what I found." Told Marinette and heard her mother scream, making her and the father laugh.

* * *

Marinette's parents had gone with her and the little fox kit to the vet to check his leg and remove his plaster from it and now they were home. Marinette had arrived from school and went up to the living room to catch the cub doing cute little jumps on the couch like a playful puppy dog.

"Aww" Replied Marinette putting her school bag down, then opened the bag and took out a squeaky toy, which was formed like a chicken. She bent down, looking at the tomato colored pet. "Nathaniel look, what I got for you." Said Marinette and the kit walked up at the blueberry haired girl, then sniffed on the toy, then started to shake his rear, wanting to play with Marinette.

"Yeah come let's have some fun" Said Marinette and the cub bit the head of the chicken, causing it to squeak. Nathaniel stopped and tilted his head, by hearing the sound. He bit it again and went back again, doing the same movement again, after the noise of the squeaking toy, making Marinette laugh.

"He's supposed to do this Nath" Said Marinette then sighed and stood up leaving the fox kit behind and looked at the fridge at a drawing of herself with another guy with long hair and covering the right eye of him with a bang from the hairstyle. Marinette sighed again and passed her hand on the drawing.

"I wish you still were here" Said Marinette looking at the sketch and from her bluebell eyes, came out a tear as she thought about her redhead friend from the drawing.

 **Is is spelled "Gekker"? My word processor says, I'm misspelling it the whole time and I find it spelled like this on Google?**


	2. Two Years Later

**Chapter 2**

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and Marinette lied inside her bed still sleeping. Next to the window of the room was a blue dog bed and inside the bed lied a grown-up dark red fox, doing a nap, having his head lied on the cushion of the pet bed. The sun shined through the window at the fox's fur, making it shine and the fox moved his body around, holding his four paws up in the air, stretching them, followed by a yawn. The fox opened his eyes and looked out of the window, observing the cathedral on the other side of the seine.

"What a beautiful day," Said the fox and looked the ladder up at his owner, that lied in the bed sleeping. He smiled and jumped at the mid part of the ladder and climbed it up, reaching the end of the mattress to see Marinette lying inside her covers. The fox crawled his way up to Marinette's face and started to poke her face with his nose, trying to wake her up.

Nathaniel gave Marinette a few licks on her cheeks, then let out a few soft barks, causing her to giggle. Nathaniel barked again, wiggling his fluffy tail and spun around, passing his tail on Marinette's face and kept wagging with it, tickling her nose.

"Nathaniel!" Laughed Marinette as she felt the bushy tail tickling the tip of her nose. "Good morning" Greeted Marinette taking him onto her arms for a hug.

Down in the living room, her mother was making pancakes and bacon for the breakfast and Marinette came down followed by her pet fox.

"Bon jour maman," Greeted Marinette pecking her mother on the cheek and sat down on the table.

"Bon jour Marinette" Greeted Sabine observing her daughter sitting down. "Did you sleep good?" Asked the mother and the bluenette nodded.

Nathaniel observed Ms. Cheng cooking the bacon and licked up his lips.

"Yummy"

"Right I gotta change Nathaniel's water" Said Marinette getting up and taking Nathaniel's food bowl up and walked up to the lavatory to change the old water with some fresh from the faucet.

"It doesn't harm your fox, if I give him a stripe or two of bacon, right?" Asked Sabine and Marinette shook her head.

"Only coffee, chocolate or grapes is poisoning for him," Told Marinette and Sabine put the fried bacon into a new plate and took a stripe out and hold it over Nathaniel.

"Come on my boy sit down" Demanded Sabine and the fox obeyed and sat his butt down and looked up at the owner. "Say please" Told the Chinese woman and Nathaniel tilt his head to the side, let his ears fall down and wide his eyes, making the puppy face – Kit face to be exact.

"Good boy," Said Sabine and gave the smiling fox the bacon, which he ate with joy.

"Mon Cherie, can you come?" Asked Marinette's father down from the bakery and Marinette looked down. "It's Kagami, your friend," Told Tom.

"I'm coming papa," Replied Marinette and walked the stairs down to the bakery followed by her fox.

"Hi Kagami" Greeted Marinette.

"Hey Marinette, I just came here to bring you that book you borrowed me for the presentation," Said the girl with a red pullover.

"No problem Kagami" Responded Marinette. Nathaniel sniffed on Kagami's shoes and she looked down at the fox.

"Oh you really got a fox," Said Kagami looking down at the turquoise eyes of the pet.

"Yes, I found him two years ago up at the roof as the criminals had felt down with the plane in the river," Said Marinette and picked the fox up. "Say hello to Kagami Nath...hello"

"Aho" Barked Nathaniel making the Japanese girl chuckle.

"What a cute guy," Said Kagami petting the middle sized animal.

"Yeah he is" Agreed Marinette and someone entered into the bakery.

"There you are!" Shouted the voice getting the attention of the two Asian girls.

"Huh?" Asked Marinette looking at the entrance to see Adrien Agreste. Paris' former teeny model and girl swarm.

"Uh..." Replied Kagami and Marinette stared lovely at Adrien, seeing him standing there at the entrance looking in love at her way with lots of pink hearts fluttering around him.

"Who's that?" Asked Nathaniel himself and Adrien made his way up to Marinette, which hold the fox and grabbed her arms.

"H...h...h….h….hi…." Stammered Marinette while looking at the blonde.

"May I take a look on this fox?" Asked Adrien and Marinette smiled at him, more in love than before.

"Marinette?" Asked Kagami confused and waved her hand in front of her face. "Marinette!"

"Oh uh...sure, of course" Responded Marinette and Adrien checked out the fur of the fox, passing his hand over it and rubbing it between his fingers. "His fine and shiny fur shows, that he's well nourished." Said Adrien and opened the mouth of the fox. "Healthy fangs...the gum's a little bit sore, but it's not bad...his claws are….purrfect..." Said Adrien placing Nathaniel's flat paw over his flat hand to check the nails of the pet.

"Purrfect, is this guy a cat?" Asked Nathaniel himself and then widened his eyes as Adrien checked him down, at his genitals. "Grrr" Growled Nathaniel as Adrien.

"I'm already done my little man," Said Adrien. "I just want to be sure, you're alright for your mate"

"What mate?" Asked Marinette.

"Your fox here is the last male fox of his breed and he's our only hope to save his kind from getting extinct."

"Extinct?" Asked Marinette. "Really?"

"Yeah, you know this isn't just any type of red fox. This is a tomato fox. The name indicates, that his fur's color resembles more to a tomato than to a regular red fox."

"I didn't know that" Said Marinette.

"Now you do and the last female kind of your fox's species is in Catania, near Sicily"

"Italy?" Asked Marinette. "Near the end of the boot?"

"Well it's not that far away, tomato foxes used to live in Iceland, then came to Europe and after a few decades they started to die out."

"Oh wonder why"

"My theory is, that people had been killing foxes to get their fur to make clothes to sell them. This made the hunters very rich"

"That's horrible," Said Marinette. "Wish we could help"

"You two could!" Replied Adrien. "You two just need to come with me to Italy and bring our fox Nathaniel to the other vixen, closed them up and wait for them to mate."

"But I think they won't just mate right after they met," Told Marinette the blonde.

"Don't worry, we will make sure that they mate" Said Adrien. "We just have to wait for the vixen to get heat and when she is and both have bounded as friends or even mates, he can impregnate her"

"Sounds more difficult, than it is?"

"Only if they wouldn't want to mate, but I think that's not the case"

"Let's hope so" Said Marinette looking at her pet fox, which glared at her. "When should I go down to Italy?" Asked Marinette, then Adrien took his phone out to check the agenda.


	3. The Fox Reservoir

**Chapter 3**

A week later Marinette decided to help Adrien to save Nathaniel's breed from dying out and they were in Italy sitting together with Nathaniel inside a taxi, driving to the place Adrien told the vixen was.

"It's a very large area, where your fox can be around just like in the wild. Just it's not as big as the real wild" Explained Adrien the half Chinese girl.

"You're probably going to like it Nath," Said Marinette petting Nathaniel, which lied on Marinette's lap.

"Hopefully this will be better, than sitting in that pet box" Mumbled Nathaniel feeling Marinette's hand on his head as she caressed his head.

"And that fox girl...she was found in the wild?"

"She was living her life there normally, but as I found out, that you had adopted a fox and I saw pictures of him and saw his fur, I just had to come and check out, if you really had the last male"

"I think we will manage this with the mating right?" Asked Marinette. "You know the foxes..."

"Sure they will" Said Adrien and petted Nathaniel's head. "This guy will do great," Said the blonde and Marinette looked out of the window as they entered into a parking entrance of a center of veterinary.

"Are we here?" Asked the blueberry haired girl and Adrien nodded and opened the door and left the car along with Marinette and the fox.

"This is our clinic for all types of animals. We take care of them, take some interventions, feed them, observe them and so on, until they're better and can go back to the free wild" Told Adrien entering into the center passing by the reception and following the corridor along to the office of a Mrs. Agreste.

"My mother went to vacation for a few days, but I still can get here into her office and get the keys to the surveillance cameras of the reservoir."

"Why do we need them?" Asked Marinette.

"To see, how they're gonna bound or not" Responded Adrien. "Well, we can also see that, but it was meant to observe vandalism, the appearance of strange people or if the animals we got there, get into a fight"

"Fight?" Asked Nathaniel.

"We let Nathaniel and Lila alone in the reservoir and observe how they will treat each other"

"Okay, can I bring him into the reservoir?" Asked Marinette. "I want to talk with him"

"I don't mind" Responded Marinette accompanying the half Chinese girl into the big enclosure and put the fox down in front of her. "Listen Nathaniel, you will be here alone for a while and just to know, you're here to meet a special fox girl. She looks like you, but she's a female and probably also a gorgeous girl fox" Told Marinette. "Be a nice boy" Said Marinette petting his head. "Like you always were" Said Marinette walking back at Adrien, which looked at Nathaniel looking at them.

"You will do a good job Buddy," Said Adrien giving him a thumb up, then closed the door leaving the fox alone.

"Okay, now I'm all by myself," Said Nathaniel walking away from the door and observing the green grass around him with a few trees and bushes on the ground. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Nathaniel walked on the grass looking for a certain animal around the place then stopped to look around, better for the vixen he should meet.

"Hello?" Said Nathaniel waiting for someone to respond. He walked a bit further passing by a bush, which then mysteriously started to shake. "Huh?" Asked Nathaniel looking at the bush. He took a look at the bush, then heard a strange growl coming from the green bush.

Nathaniel gulped and started to walk backward away from the bush, then it shook again and a fox shouts out of the bush flying towards him.

"Ah!" Shrieked Nathaniel and ran off, then got chased by the fox. Nathaniel kept running and turned his head back to see the other fox's angry face as it chased him around. Nathaniel turned his face to the front, then shrieked as he saw the fence of the reserve blocking the way and he crashed against the fence.

"Ouch!" Replied Nathaniel and stood up looking at it, then heard the other fox growl and shrieked as he jumped at Nathaniel taking him down. "Nooo!"

"Grrr" Growled the fox glaring angrily into Nathaniel turquoise eyes. The fox wide his eyes at the sight of the red fox's eyes. Nathaniel glared amazed at the female fox, that lied - stood over him looking into his eyes.

"Uh hi?" Greeted Nathaniel confused.

"Chi sei?" Asked the vixen glaring at Nathaniel.

"What?" Asked Nathaniel.

"Parla Italiano?"

"Uh I kind of don't speak or understand Italian…

"Who are you?" Asked the fox.

"Well...I'm Nathaniel" Responded Nathaniel. "According to my owner, I'm a Tomato Fox"

"Owner?" Asked the female fox raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah owner" Responded Nathaniel. "Oh, you're a stray?" Asked Nathaniel glaring at the fox's neck, that didn't have a collar, as he did.

"What's a stray?"

"I mean you don't have this dog tag on the neck," Said Nathaniel holding his paw under the tag, showing it to the vixen.

"Nope I don't"

"Well….okay then," Said Nathaniel. "So uhm….you're Lila?"

Yeah" Responded Lila. "How did you find out my name?"

"The guy, that took me here said so" Replied Nathaniel and Lila walked away, then Nathaniel followed her.

"Come follow me," Told Lila and Nathaniel obeyed the vixen.

"Where do you actually come from, since you're not from here?" Asked Nathaniel.

"Genoa" Responded Lila. "And you?"

"Uh Paris" Responded Nathaniel. "A bit far away from there"

"What is a fox like you doing here in Italy?"

"Uh my owner and that guy, that set me here in wanted us to mate"

"WHAT!?" Shouted Lila. "Are you crazy?" Hissed Lila at Nathaniel scaring him.

"That's what they said!"

"We don't even know each other and those stupid humans, think that I will let any strange fox bury his bone in me?!" Asked Lila angry.

"Well technically, they want to do this to save our species from dying out," Said Nathaniel raising his finger.

"What's going on in their brains?" Asked Lila walking off.

"They just wanted me to help you have some kits"

"Do they think this place is good for me raising kits? I can't hunt any animals in here, I just get some stupid cereals and human food"

"But we get feed here, isn't that something good?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila shook head.

"Okay, maybe it's not that good as in the wild, but you don't have other concurrent hunting the animals."

"And?" Asked Lila. "My life out there was thousand times better"

"Seems believable" Replied Nathaniel. Both stood there not chatting for a moment, then Nathaniel looked at her again. "I don't know, what the others said to you, but the humans will only take me out of here if we mate," Said Nathaniel scratching the back of his head. "This is kind of..."

"Arghhh!" Yelled Lila and ran behind Nathaniel around the reservoir harming Nathaniel.

At the inside of Mrs. Agreste's cabinet sat Adrien and Marinette observing Lila hunting Nathaniel around the reserve through the surveillance cameras.

"Uh I think this isn't working" Said Marinette looking at Adrien.

"They're just playing hunt with each other, that's not bad" Responded the blonde.

"That's good then"

"By the way, have you found a hotel yet to stay?" Asked Adrien and the blueberry haired girl shook her head. "Maybe I can help you, my cousin is the manager in a hotel here in the near, maybe I can convince him to make a cheap price for you"

"I think you don't need to do that"

"No, I do it" Responded Adrien. "After all you wanted to help me to save the Tomato Fox breed" Said Adrien making Marinette smile.

"Alright I accept your offer"


	4. Nightmare

**Chapter 4**

In the evening Nathaniel lied next to a tree having a nap. Lila came from the other side of the reserve, running towards him and stopped in front of him.

"Nathaniel wake up" Demanded Lila, making Nathaniel open his eyes and look up at the vixen.

"I'm….awake" Yawned Nathaniel and stood up looking at the female.

"Are you ready?" Asked Lila and Nathaniel shrugged his front leg's shoulders.

"Come" Told Lila and Nathaniel followed the girl.

"Okay Nathaniel you can do it. You will now mate with a fox girl you barely know. She didn't want to kill you, she just was a bit surprised I guess….It will go fine" Told Nathaniel to himself.

" _It will not go fine. You will fail at the penetration, you will hurt her by mistake….what if she doesn't get pregnant? What if I can't get her pregnant? What if I can't hold myself on her"_ Thought Nathaniel warping his snout out of nervously.

"Here is our way to the freedom," Said Lila pointing at a hole on the bottom, making Nathaniel get out of his mind and back to reality.

"For what's that?" Asked Nathaniel.

"I've been digging for a long while to make a tunnel to the outside of this jail and now we're able to get out" Explained Lila and Nathaniel looked into the brown hole.

"Oh uhm...great"

Lila nodded and entered into the hole. "Come let's get out of here"

"But….what about Marinette?" Asked Nathaniel looking back at the reserve. Lila didn't reply back and Nathaniel looked into the hole. "Alright..." Sighed Nathaniel and slipped into the hole and crawled through the tunnel following Lila's bushy tail.

"I'm right behind you," Told Nathaniel and then saw Lila going up and leaving the hole, where now he could see the light. Nathaniel left the hole and saw, that he was on the outside of the reservoir along with Lila.

"And now?" Asked Nathaniel.

"We can now go our ways, where ever we belong" Responded Lila. "I can go back to Genoa and you to Paris"

"But…..my owner is here with me"

"Your owner?" Asked Lila questioningly.

"Yeah, I live with a human girl, that raised me since I was a little kit," Told Nathaniel.

"What?" Asked Lila surprised, then laughed. "You're a pet!"

"I'm not a pet like a cat or a dog. I'm a companion! I'm a companion to her"

"That's what pets are!"

"Okay, okay then yes I am a pet" Admitted Nathaniel. "What's so bad about this?"

"I didn't say it was bad, but I would prefer to be living free, rather than stuck at home with some crazy humans"

"Marinette isn't crazy...sort of...she's very lovable. She adopted and took care of me when I was a baby and nourished and gave lots of love to me, like a mother"

"What happened to your parents?" Asked Lila. "Are they deceased?"

"They…..got killed by two humans with a weird thing with pipes, that shouted round, tiny balls from it"

"Oh…."

"Yeah…."

"My condolences," Said Lila. "This is why I hate humans. They're bad and do this to us foxes and other animals. They want to use our fur to make them some stupid, tasteless clothes for them to wear" Told Lila. "This is why our breed is rotting out"

"But you know, not all humans are like that" Told Nathaniel. "Marinette isn't"

"I wish it was easy to believe it," Said Lila sad. "When I was a teen, I lost my parents the same way you did and I and my younger brother had to see, how the humans were taking their fur off their bodies. It was real….real…."

"Horrible, I know" Agreed Nathaniel sad, thinking about when he was younger and thought about the past. Nathaniel had got flashbacks about the humans shouting her mother and father to death, then the other one was about he being stuck in a cage and from there he saw along with the other fox kits their parents' fur being cut out from their bodies, making Nathaniel look horrified along with the other kits.

"Nathaniel, are you alright?" Asked Lila and Nathaniel's body shivered and Nathaniel shook his head to stop the flashback.

"Sorry, I just had this horrible picture in my head," Said Nathaniel and his stomach growled. Nathaniel sat down and placed his paw in front of his stomach.

"If you want I can show you places here, where we can get some food" Suggested Lila. "I'm also starting to get hungry"

"S...sure" Responded Nathaniel at the smiling vixen, then she walked off and Nathaniel looked back at the reserve, they just got out before. Lila turned around looking at the male fox staring at the reserve.

"Are you coming?" Asked Lila and Nathaniel turned around and made his way to Lila, then accompanied her.

* * *

Marinette lied on the couch sleeping. She groaned a bit anxiously, then spoke during the sleep.

"No, this did not happen" Said Marinette sleeping.

 _Marinette was walking at the school ground and passed by Kim and Max greeting the two._

" _Hey guys"_

" _Hey Marinette" Greeted Kim._

" _Hey" Greeted Max._

" _Have you guys seen Nathaniel?" Asked Marinette and both shook their heads._

" _This time I haven't seen him" Responded Kim._

" _Yeah, he's usually first here from our class" Added Max._

" _I go look for him" Said Marinette walking towards to the entrance of the building, then heard a girl screaming then looked around and saw Aurore running towards Marinette's direction._

" _Aurore, what's going on?" Asked Marinette._

" _Your friend Nathaniel is dead!" Shouted Aurore shocked. "I and Kagami found him lying behind the school."_

" _What?" Asked Marinette surprised then behind her passed Myléne getting the news too._

" _Someone needs to call the ambulance" Said Aurore._

" _Aurore call the ambulance" Said Marinette running the stairs down._

" _I'll be calling my father," Told Myléne running into the school. Marinette ran around the school looking for her friend, then at the backside of the school, she found there Kagami crying next to Nathaniel, that lied there in a small poodle of blood. His head was rather a bit deep on the ground as normal, when you lie on a bed. He was more down, cause he somehow managed to break the back of the skull. His full body was paralyzed, there was no muscle moving._

" _Marinette he's dead, there's no pulse or heartbeat of him to be heard," Told Kagami with tears in her eyes._

" _But have you tried to do CPR on him?" Asked Marinette shocked._

" _How?" Asked Kagami. "He doesn't breath and his heart and pulse aren't beating!"_

" _But we still can bring him to life...right?" Asked Marinette in panic looking at Nathaniel's face, which looked frozen and showed, that his death was painful._

" _We can try it" Said Marinette putting her hands behind his head lifting it up, then she took her hands quickly away, as she felt how light it felt behind is head._

" _Eww" Said Marinette then looked at her hands, full of blood. On the blood appeared Nathaniel's visage and looked angry at her._

" _Marinette, why didn't you help me?" Asked Nathaniel._

" _I didn't meant….I didn't want to lose you, I didn't know you were in trouble"_

" _Chloé and Kim posted on the school newspapers embarrassing pictures of me, they bullied me, beat me up and you were always saying to me, that everything would be better and it never was"_

" _I'm so sorry Nathaniel, I didn't know you were going through a depression"_

" _You're a horrible friend Marinette, I told this to god and you will go to hell for that!"_

" _No!"_

Marinette was moving around the couch.

"No, no, no"

A Phone started to ring, scaring Marinette, which stood up screaming.

"Ahhh!" Yelled Marinette, then looked at her phone, which was in front of her at the coffee table of the room. She looked at the phone and saw, it was Adrien's number. She took the phone call and attended it.

"Hi Adrien" Greeted Marinette. "Dinner? Sure, I'll be going down. See ya" Said Marinette and turned the phone off.

"Wonder how my little fox is doing" Said Marinette to herself, thinking on her pet fox Nathaniel.


	5. Foxnapped

**Chapter 5**

In the city, at the sidewalk, Nathaniel walked along with Lila looking at the buildings all around them.

"So uhm, where exactly are we going to eat?" Asked Nathaniel looking at Lila.

"Inside a luxurious five-star restaurant" Responded Lila

"Really?" Asked Nathaniel. "In other restaurants in Paris animals are prohibited"

"I meant this as a joke. We're eating on the back of the restaurant." Told Lila. "They got lots of food, that they throw away"

"Trash food?"

"I see you're really a house fox," Said Lila smirking at the fox.

"As long as it isn't poisoned I can eat it"

"Sure"

Both walked into a dark alley, next to a noble restaurant and arrived at the back, where they had a container with various foods, fried, cooked and grilled from the humans.

"What would you like to eat?" Asked Lila showing the Tomato Fox the food on the container and Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders. "Follow me, so we can see, what it has in there" Ordered Lila and jumped on the container and Nathaniel did so and jumped at the container, landing with his front paws on the container and his back at the outside.

"Little help?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila pushed him on the tail to the container. "Thanks"

"Look at those" Said Lila as she found a big hamburger on the container.

"Mmh" Said Nathaniel licking his snout, then stepped forwards and tapped with his left paw on a meatball. He smiled and took it with his fangs, then saw Lila looking back at him.

"Those are my favorites," Said Lila looking at him.

"Really?" Mumbled Nathaniel earning a nod from the vixen. "Here," Said Nathaniel placing it on the pile of food.

"No, you can have it"

"Please, I offer it to you," Said Nathaniel rolling it with his nose to the female. Lila smiled at Nathaniel's manners and accepted it.

"Thank you," Said Lila and took the meatball. Nathaniel smiled and kept looking around the container and found a few chicken breasts and took one in his mouth.

"I found plenty of chicken here" Mumbled Nathaniel to Lila which nodded and walked Nathaniel passing by him, then tickling him on the nose with her tail, making him chuckle.

"Nice job" Complimented Lila and took one too, then started to eat it along with Lila.

After a while, Lila looked at Nathaniel eating a small liverwurst and thought on speaking to him.

"How is it for you to live inside a house with a human?" Asked Lila.

"Good" Responded Nathaniel. "I have an own bed for me, get feed two or three times per day, get loved by many friends of Marinette"

"You kind of life just like a dog?"

"Yeah kind of, but dogs don't sympathize a lot with me"

"Oh, so you take little walks with your owner, just like dogs do?"

"What is wrong?" Asked Nathaniel. "I still can be free, not as much as you, but it's better"

"Nathaniel, I didn't want to make it sound bad or something." Told Lila.

"Sorry, but I kind of think you mean it"

"Alright, alright sorry" Responded Lila. "If you want I can later bring you home to your owner," Told Lila. "You know, I'm just used to see foxes living in the wild and not like you, that's why I'm kind of contradicted about it"

"And I can find the way by myself," Said Nathaniel jumping down the container and crossing the alley by himself.

"Be careful with the dog catcher" Warned Lila and Nathaniel growled.

"Enough!" Shouted Nathaniel looking back at Lila. "I'm a FUCKING FOX AND I KNOW, THAT I SHOULD BE IN THE WILD, BUT IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT, I'M A DOMESTICATED ONE!" Hissed Nathaniel and Lila looked shocked at him. "What I never talked to someone like that" Said Nathaniel then Lila jumped in front of him, making him jump and walk backward.

"Nath, what are you doing?" Asked Lila. "Run!"

"Run what?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila pointed up behind him to see a tall man with a net, which then he threw at the two foxes, covering them.

"No!" Shouted Lila.

"Hey get this of us, we aren't stray dogs," Told Nathaniel and the man grabbed the net, putting it over his shoulder and walked off with them.

"Let us go!" Demanded Nathaniel and Lila did an alarm call, to make attention, but no one seemed to have heard her. The man left the alley and opened the back door of a black SUV, that was there parked and threw the bag with the foxes into the trunk, then closed them in there.

"Wonder how you two are doing tonight," Said the man walking to the front, getting into the car then started the engine to leave the place.

Marinette and Adrien were inside a restaurant eating Spaghetti while talking with each other.

"Do you think, that both are doing fine?" Asked Marinette. "If they are already friends or something?"

"They sure will understand each other" Responded Adrien. "It will take its time, but they will"

"Talking about the foxes, why did you name Nathaniel, Nathaniel?" Asked Adrien. "Didn't you name him, after that red head friend of yours?" Asked Adrien drinking from his juice.

"I…..I…..didn't come out with a name and as I found him…..Nathaniel was there and I asked him if I could name the fox like that?"

"Really?" Asked Adrien and Marinette nodded sheepishly.

"Well okay" Responded Adrien. "Do you know the daughter of the Rossi's?" Asked Adrien. "You know, those Italian diplomats?" Asked Adrien and Marinette shook her head.

"Nope"

"Well my mother is befriended with Mrs. Rossi and I used to hang around with their daughter. Her name was Lila too"

"Was?" Asked Marinette and Adrien nodded.

"Well, she was my only friend here" Responded Adrien. "I sometimes had contact with Chloé, but it wasn't the same as before"

"What happened to her?" Asked Marinette.

"Who Chloé?"

"No, I meant Lila"

"Oh sorry" Replied Adrien. "I don't know, but on that one night Lila spent with her family the evening with us and my father was somewhat talking with her father about reuniting us together. This got into my and Lila's ears and Lila argued with her parents about it and that she was sick of her father only wanting her to get interested to guys from higher social ranking like me...Rich, handsome and not like you...no offense..."

"Oh" Responded Marinette. "Did she kill herself?"

"No way" Responded Adrien. "Why did you think that?"

"Uh…..bad guess?"

"Well….on that night Lila left the house and asked their assistant to get her back home...on the way, it was very windy and raining a lot...On such circumstances they had to drive slower, to avoid the car from sliding or needing a long time to break" Said Adrien having a tear in his eyes, while Marinette seemed to get into a breakdown, thinking on her best friend from school time Nathaniel.

"Some idiots were trying their lambos on the road and one of them, lost the control over the car and crashed against Lila's car...her assistant luckily escaped with injuries, but Lila…." Said Adrien staring to sob. "She died immediately"

Marinette looked shocked as she saw Adrien crying in front of her.

"She was my best friend, the only friend, who could understand the life I lived"

Marinette started to lose some tears too, as Adrien was very honest with her about the loss of a very special person, though she didn't ask about more information. Marinette reached her hand on Adrien's shoulder, but then refused it and took it back then looked down at the bottom disappointing.

A phone rang and Adrien took the serviette to wipe his nose on it, then attended the phone.

"Adrien?" Answered Adrien, then he widened his eyes in shock. "What, how did they escape?….a hole on the ground?...I'm on my way," Said Adrien turning the phone off.

"W...what happened?" Asked Marinette and Adrien stood up, putting his jacket on.

"Nathaniel and Lila escaped" Responded Adrien and placed a 100 cash bill on the table. "I have to check it out"

"Me too!" Responded Marinette standing up. "After all Nathaniel is my fox and he went probably looking for me"

"You can come and sorry, that this happened" Responded Adrien. "This shouldn't have happened, they are securities observing the surveillance cameras"

"Let's just move, maybe we can find them in the near" Told Marinette following the blonde, leaving the restaurant.


	6. The Fight

**Chapter 6**

Nathaniel and Lila were still stuck in the bag inside the SUV's trunk.

"Where are we?" Asked Nathaniel as he heard the engine turning off. "The car turned off"

"Probably at the kennel" Responded Lila. "But why do they want us there, we're predators"

The door got open and the man from before took the net and carried both into the back entrance of a building.

"This place seems empty," Said Nathaniel, then the man entered into anther room through the door and saw many cages with several pets like dogs and cats sitting there and observing the man coming in.

"We are in a kennel," Said Lila as a few dogs started to bark and whine, as the man came in.

"Shut up!" Shouted the man, then opened an empty cage and threw both foxes into the cage, closing the door behind them.

"Ouch!" Shouted Nathaniel. "Watch it!"

"Grrr" Growled Lila looking at the man leaving them back and leaving through the door, he had come before.

"We need to get out of here," Said Nathaniel standing in front of the cage's net, looking at the square forms on it. "I just don't know how"

"Look Mario, it's a fox couple," Said a Beagle, which sat in a cage vice versa to the foxes.

"Aww" Replied a white mixed breed, which was in the cage next to him.

"We aren't a couple!" Corrected Lila. "Right Nathaniel?" Asked Lila looking at the other Tomato fox, which grinned a bit embarrassed.

"Not at all"

"I think your _friend_ doesn't think so," Said a gray mixed breed, which was on the other side from Mario in the cage.

"What made you say that?" Asked Lila looking at Nathaniel, which then looked back embarrassed. "I helped him escape from a human guided reservoir and we got surprisingly caught by that man from before together"

"He's coming!" Shouted a cat as another door got open and another man walked into the place looking at all cages.

"Maybe he's going to get us out" Said Nathaniel hopefully and sat in front of the door. "Maybe Marinette found out I got lost and went to look for me"

"If this were just true..." Said Lila unimpressed and saw Nathaniel sitting in front of the door and the man stopped in front of the cage of the foxes and opened it.

"Look he's going to free us" Said Nathaniel and got picked up by the man.

"Come little man, let's see how you will do," Said the man chuckling.

"Hey, why is he taking only him?" Asked Lila grabbing the cell's poles.

"They only take one for the fight," Told the gray dog on the other side of the room.

"Fight?" Asked Lila. "What fight?"

"Lorenzo the boss of the dogfights is the leader of those men here and the owner of Brutus, the strongest fighter dog in this fight your boyfriend is now going"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Okay...and to make more money and the fights more interesting, he also caught other animals for the fights like a few cats in here like Kim, a fox like you and the only raccoon here Darwin."

"And how do the fights go?" Asked Lila getting a bit worried.

"Usually bad" Responded the gray dog. "The most were injured badly, others...well..."

"Oh no," Said Lila and looked at the door, where Nathaniel got taken away.

Nathaniel was being hold by the guy, which stood with him in front of a door listening to a voice from the other side of the door.

"Can I ask you, why you didn't take Lila with?" Asked Nathaniel, then raised his ear as he also heard the voice on the other side of the door.

" _Mis amicis,_ let me introduce to you our champion, our favorite fighter, 100% Italiano, Brutus!" Shouted a man standing on the second floor looking down at the base floor, which was formed like a square and had on both sides a door, each with one big number in the middle of it.

The door with the number one got open and a black Mastiff ran into the ring, earning applause from humans from the second and third floor over the ring looking down at him.

"Ah what a masterpiece of dog," Said the man at the sight of the muscles of the dog. "And on the other side, we've got another type of animal. Let me introduce you….a red fox!" Shouted the man and Nathaniel got thrown in, followed by the door closing behind him.

"Red fox?" Asked Nathaniel. "My fur's rather tomato red, that's also why my breed is called like that" Said Nathaniel looking at the door, then he looked up as he saw men applauding around and a few others laughing.

"Am I on a competition or something?" Asked Nathaniel walking. "Can I know what type of competition this is?" Asked Nathaniel the noted the Mastiff standing in front of him looking at his head down. "Oh I'm not alone here"

The Mastiff growled at Nathaniel, making him feel uncomfortable. "What kind of competition is this here sir?" Asked Nathaniel. "I mean what are we doing her or what do we do here?"

"We both fight until one of us dies" Responded the dog glaring angrily at the Tomato fox.

"Uh I think that must have been a mistake" Said Nathaniel backing off slowly. "I was brought here to Italy to save my breed, then the vixen I was suppose to mate, helped me getting out of the reservoir and then we landed behind a…."

"Shut up!" Demanded the dog the fox, which shrieked.

"I'm not supposed to be here fighting..."

"Grr" Growled the dog and Nathaniel looked around to see, there was no way to escape.

"Well let's do it then like on Animal Planet," Said Nathaniel then ran around the ring, followed by the Italian dog. "Help!" Shouted Nathaniel.

Inside the kennels, Lila heard Nathaniel and the other dog barking and looked at the others.

"He needs help," Said Lila.

"We can't help you, we're all trapped in those cages," Said Mario.

"Sorry girl, you need a key to open that locker or a paper clip," Told the gray dog and Lila looked at the lock, then had an idea.

"I do it my way," Said Lila taking a claw out of her paw, then stuck the tip of it inside the lock and unlocked it, causing it to fall down, then she pulled it away with her paw walking out of the cage.

"Hey wow, how did you do this?" Asked one of the dogs.

"She used her claws!" Told a cat, then looked at the lock of its cage and tried to do the same as her.

"Come on and help us," Told Mario and Lila looked at Mario and the other dogs around him.

"Take me and I'll help your friend with Brutus," Told the gray dog looking serious at Lila, then she nodded and tried to unlock the stray.

Nathaniel kept running around the ring, then got tired and Brutus bit him on his tail and threw him up in the air. "Ahhh!" Cried Nathaniel as he flew up in the air. Nathaniel flew down and saw Brutus growling at him. Shocking Nathaniel, which then hit him on the face with his claws and landed down on his butt.

"Ouch" Replied Nathaniel followed by the big dog whining, after being clawed by the fox. "Ops," Said Nathaniel walking backward away from the Italian dog.

"Nathaniel!" Shouted a voice and the male Tomato fox looked back and saw the second door opening back, then Nathaniel ran out through the door to see the gray dog standing on his hind legs with Lila on the top of his head.

"How did you do?" Asked Lila and the gray dog closed the door.

"Uh fine I guess" Responded Nathaniel unsure.

"Fine?" Asked Lila. "Did you guys even fight?" Asked Lila.

"Didn't you see how tall that dog was?" Asked Nathaniel shocked. "He can pick me up very easy and end my life!"

"Gosh you're even worse than a lap dog"

"Ugh can't you just stop to complain about me being a pet fox, rather than a wild fox?"

"Come on you two stop fighting, I'll get you out of here," Told the gray dog and he ran out with the two foxes. Two other men appeared and headed to the room, where the kennel was then got attacked by a few cats and the other animals ran out of the cages, that were opened before by someone.

"Freedom! Freedom!" Sang a brown Labrador running along with other pets.

The gray dog left with the foxes the building.

"Thank you so much, Rocky," Said Lila looking at the gray dog.

"No problem" Responded Rocky. "See you someday" Said Rocky walking off, then Nathaniel called him.

"Rocky hey, where you going?" Asked Nathaniel.

"Escaping from Lorenzo's people" Responded Rocky. "And I have to go, you know it's how it is on the streets. All strays life on their own"

"Oh….well okay," Said Nathaniel, then Lila interrupted the two males.

"Hey Rocky, it doesn't mind us, if you show us around here like some places, where we could get some food or so" Suggested Lila.

"Alright, why not" Responded Rocky.

"Can we then try to get back to Marinette?" Asked Nathaniel.

"Tomorrow of the other day" Responded Lila. "Let's just get away from here" Told Lila walking off with Rocky, then Nathaniel followed the two.


	7. Missing

**Chapter 7**

In an alley, Rocky lied awake along with Lila glaring at a broken lava lamp near the trash containers.

Nathaniel lied next to the container sleeping like a dog rolled in itself.

"As a pet, he was raised to be something like a lap dog. Accompany the owner, do tricks like shaking their paw or rolling over, bring the owner the newspaper...A few of the things a regular dog learns"

But Nathaniel is a fox, he should have to know how to fight...or hunt...don't dogs learn that too?" Asked Lila looking at the middle sized dog.  
"Not all dogs learn that" Responded Rocky. "The most dogs, that learn to hunt are only hunter dogs"  
"And fight dogs learn fight, right?"  
"I guess so..."  
"Okay," Said Lila glaring at the male Tomato fox, which tried to sleep. She widened her eyes as she had an idea and looked at Rocky. "Do you think I can teach him how to hunt? Asked Lila. "Or how to defend himself from other animals like Brutus?"  
"If he wants to" Responded Rocky. "I suggest you start with something, that isn't alive. You know instead of chasing a mouse, chasing something like a can"

"I see about that tomorrow," Said Lila lying down and glaring at the male fox.

"Don't worry, your mate will do good" Said Rocky making Lila roll her eyes.

"We're not mates" Corrected Lila.

"Not yet," Rocky said while he lied down too. "Don't you want to save your species from getting extinct?"

"I don't know, he's the only Tomato fox guy in the world, I don't think he's the right guy for me"

"Well, how long do you know each other?" Asked Rocky. "Two days?"

"More like hours" Replied Lila. "I was caught and put into a reservoir and a few days later, they brought him into the reservoir"

"And the humans want you two to reproduce, I see"

"Yeah, and they can wait so long they want. I will not mate with him"

"I don't want to sound rude or inconvenient but, you don't know him that long. Give him a chance. Give him a chance to show himself who he is"

"Alright, tomorrow is a new day, I might get to know him better during the train" Said Lila closing her eyes to sleep. "Good night"

"Good night," Said Rocky closing his eyes too.

Adrien sat at the clinic inside the bureau of his mother in front of the computer writing a missing poster about Nathaniel.

"Wears a para cord collar, red, yellow and black….Dog tag spells his name Nathaniel, the street Rue Gotlieb 12….Tomato red fur, light blue eyes, cream white belly and snout…"

Marinette stood next to Adrien observing him writing the letter.

" _You're a bad friend….."_

Marinette closed her eyes, frowning her face trying to get rid of the voices inside her head.

"Marinette?" Called Adrien looking up at her, which was lost in her head.

" _Why did you lie to him? Are you afraid, that he thinks you're a murderer?"_

"Marinette!" Shouted Adrien waking Marinette off her fantasies, then she looked at Adrien.

"Sorry!...I uh...got lost in my head….I….was thinking about your friend there"

"No worry" Responded Adrien. "I'm actually glad I could talk with someone about it"

"Yeah...I know" Said Marinette with her face turning sad, which Adrien saw.

"Oh uhm….look do you want to give reward?" Asked Adrien. "It usually speeds up the people to look for him?"

"Sure uh make 10'000€" Responded Marinette. "I want my fox back so fast"

"Same for me about Lila" Responded Adrien. "Well, maybe they will feel better out in mother nature," Told Adrien.

"Could they possibly have mated?" Asked Marinette curious, then the blonde shook his head as he pressed the control and P button, to print the poster out.

"Nope, that will only happen in a few weeks or next month" Responded Adrien. "When the mating season starts….and we also have to wait for Lila getting the heat"

"Okay," Said Marinette observing the printer sending many sheets out of Nathaniel's wanted poster.

"Hey I haven't asked about that before," Said Adrien. "How's Alya going and Nathaniel Kurtzberg?" Asked Adrien, making Marinette look shocked.

"Uh I think Alya's fine" Responded Marinette. "And Nathaniel….well...he's..."

"He's….?"

"He's…..dating Juleka" Lied Marinette.

"Oh that's great" Responded Adrien with a smile. "They match so good for each other, don't you think?"

"Sort of..."

"Oh no….are you saying you had a crush on him?" Asked Adrien looking at Marinette.

"No….I...maybe...I don't know..."

"I'm so sorry Marinette" Apologized Adrien placing her hand on the bluenette's shoulder. "Uh shall we talk about it or shall I just forgot it?"

"No….maybe we talk about it another day" Replied the blueberry haired girl and the blonde nodded and took a pile of sheets out of the printer.

"Tomorrow we go share this around the city and print more...And I'll share it also on Facebook and Twitter, if you don't mind" Said Adrien and Marinette nodded and took a bit of the printed sheets and left the bureau, leaving back the blonde pinning one of the wanted posters on a bulletin board at the wall, near the secretary.


	8. Morning Hunt

**Chapter 8**

The next day Nathaniel was sleeping near the container and Lila showed up running from the entrance of the alley.

"Wake up!" Shouted Lila scaring Nathaniel.

"Ah!" Screamed Nathaniel standing up, while he wide his eyes and saw Lila in front of him. "Oh it's you" Said Nathaniel looking around the place, noting that the stray dog was gone. "Where's Rocky?"

"He went to look for breakfast" Responded Lila. "And so are we," Said Lila walking off, then turning her head back at him.

"Uh….Oh...right," Said Nathaniel walking behind the vixen, walking beside the alley along. "And where do we go?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila smirked at him.

Both foxes were at a park in front of an apple tree looking up at the red apples, that hang over the branches of it.

"Apples?" Asked Nathaniel. "In the morning?"

"What?" Asked Lila. "They're fresh off the tree, they're good not poisoned"

"I usually get stomach ache, when I get to eat fruit in the morning and..."

"Don't be a wimp," Said Lila walking around the tree to the other side, where there was a bench next to it. "Observe me, it's easy," Said Lila kneeling down with her paws, then jumped at the bench, then at the rest of the bench and looked up at the apples.

"I'll be taking one of the highest one, cause I'm a bit taller than you"

"You think I can't reach more high, because of my size?" Asked Nathaniel surprisingly offended.

"No, unless you're a good jumper or have a special way in getting an apple" Lila said having one of the red apples in watch, then she jumped and grabbed one apple, which was in the middle of the tree, then the apple ripped down and she landed on the four paws on the rest. "Tada" Mumbled Lila and jumped down to Nathaniel.

"Nice" Complimented Nathaniel.

"Now your turn"

"Okay," Said Nathaniel glaring at the apples on the tree, then he jumped at the bench and looked up at the rest. "Hmm" Replied Nathaniel jumping at the rest and walked forwards in a straight line, trying to keep balance on it and looked up at the trees.

Nathaniel smirked and jumped up in the air, realizing he didn't jump high enough, so he grabbed himself with his front paws on the apple and hang there. "Got it!….sort of….." Said Nathaniel and the apple ripped off the tree and he landed on the ground, followed by the apple hitting him on the head.

"Are you okay?" Asked Lila looking down at Nathaniel then he lifted his head up, letting the apple fall down and he glared at Lila's face, while he had his fur from his head covering his eyes. Lila giggled and passed one of her paws across his bang to uncover his eyes then saw deep into the ice blue eyes of him.

"Oh gosh I never saw something like this before," Said Lila amazed by the sight of them.

"What?"

"Your….uh I mean….I never saw you with that fur style, it looks great" Changed Lila blushing a little bit, then Nathaniel stood up and passed his paw on the right side uncovering his eye and leaving the other eye covered.

"Uh thank you," Said Nathaniel looking down at the apple he got from the tree. Lila was smiling at him, then he thought about it and rolled it to Lila. "Here for you"

"That's sweet from you, but take it" Replied Lila. "I still have a few lessons for you, there we can get more food" Suggested the vixen.

"Alright" Responded the fox with a nod and she walked away from the bench, followed with the male Tomato fox.

At the warehouse of the dogfights the owner of the was looking at his smartphone seeing a message of one of his pals and it was the wanted poster of the fox Nathaniel.

"10'000 € reward hein?" Read Lorenzo on the phone, then scratched his beard in front of his face. Lorenzo called the person, that sent him the picture, which then got answered.

"Luigi send the others this picture….I think this fox could bring lots of money" Said Lorenzo turning the phone off and looking at the poster again and seeing Marinette's name on there.


	9. Darwin

**Chapter 9**

In the afternoon Adrien and Marinette sat inside a car driving on the streets together.

"According to the phone call, the two were seen at the via 15," Told Adrien holding the steering wheel of the Maserati.

"When we arrive, they will be long gone," Told Marinette.

"I know, but we can still look around there for them"

"Sure" Replied Marinette and observed the road, where they were driving. A bit far in front on the road on the sidewalk near a fence two bouquets lying on the floor with a few white and red memorial candles lying around them and on the fence a picture of a young girl with long brown hair. Marinette raised her eyebrow by the sight of it and looked at Adrien.

"Did someone die here in this roads or something?" Asked Marinette and Adrien sighed, then turned on the right blink on and stopped on the sidewalk.

"Remember that crossroad we passed before?" Asked Adrien and Marinette nodded. "That's the place where my friend Lila died," Told Adrien.

"Oh….so then that's her?" Asked the bluenette and the blonde nodded.

Marinette opened the door of the car and walked out of the coupé, making her way up to the picture to see a photograph of the Italian girl and down a text in Italian.

"She was very gorgeous," Said Marinette as Adrien walked by her, standing next to her.

"She still had her life in front of her" Said Adrien followed by a chuckle. "Imagine she had told me once, that when she would turn 18, that she would run away from home and met some guy from Paris, she met online"

"A guy?" Asked Marinette.

"She says, he was about her age. She never told me, who he is. Only, that he's a really cute red head….well, she found him cute"

"Poor girl" Said Marinette turning sad. "You think Nathaniel and she will meet in heaven?" Asked Marinette earning a surprised look from Adrien.

"What?" Asked Adrien.

"What?"

"Did something happen to Nathaniel?" Asked Adrien.

"Uh…..no….not, of course, not….he's….he just changed his religious beliefs and….because he wanted...to go to heaven after his death..."

"Okay…..that's kind of weird to me"

"Yeah….I think so too…." Replied Marinette and looked back at the picture of Lila. "I would love to get to know her. She seemed to be a cool person"

Adrien nodded with a soft smile at Marinette's understatement. "She was" Agreed Adrien while looking at the picture of the girl. Marinette walked back to the car and as she was about to enter into the car, she saw Adrien in front of the picture on his knees praying.

Marinette smiled amorously, then kept observing the blonde whispering to himself during this act.

 _Nathaniel sat on his bed with his smartphone on his hands texting with someone._

" _Ms. Mendeleiev ripped off a page of my sketchbook I was working on" Wrote Nathaniel and sent it away to a user named La Volpe Diplomatica._

" _ **That's so horrible Nath"**_

" _Marinette wasn't there to see it, but I already told her, what happened. She gave me a bit of comfort, but I'm still pissed about it. It was a lot of work"_

" _ **I know"** Replied Lila back with a sad emoji._

" _I sometimes have the feeling you understand me much more than any of my real life friends. I really wish we could ever meet,"_

From Marinette's eye came a tear out on the left eye as she thought on her deceased friend Nathaniel.

In the village, where the foxes were along with Rocky, they were walking on the sidewalk the way back to the alley, they had overnight before.

"She put a lot of love and work on that collar"

"Be quiet, I'm listening to something" Demanded Lila glaring at the tomato fox.

"That's me talking"

"No, I hear someone riffling the containers"

"How can you?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila jogged with her ears.

"Duh"

"I have ears too, but I have no idea, how you can listen to that closely"

"You just have to focus and open your ears," Told Lila and Nathaniel raised his right ear, trying to listen better.

"I think I can hear something, but I don't know, what it is"

"Maybe you need to get your ears washed" Told Rocky.

"Well, maybe it's more useful for me….to listen non stop to cars passing by!"

"Maybe you're happier to have whiskers to help you navigate" Told Lila looking at him.

"I don't really use them quite a lot," Said Nathaniel passing his paw on his snout.

"And you probably didn't know you have them also down there," Said Lila pointing down to his legs.

"I never knew those were whiskers too," Said Nathaniel lifting his left hind leg back, making Rocky chuckle.

"You gotta learn a lot about yourself boy"

"And maybe other things foxes do, like hunting" Added Nathaniel. "I did good today, didn't I?"

"I saw better, but it's good for the start" Responded Lila walking along with the two males into the alley to catch a raccoon on the top of the container looking at a German flag like colored para cord collar on the paws of this animal, which sniffed on the tag of it.

"Hey that's mine!" Shouted Nathaniel glaring angrily at the raccoon.

"Are you sure?" Asked the raccoon. "Where does it say?" Asked the animal showing it to the fox.

"On that dog tag" Responded Nathaniel running at the container, looking up at him. "It says my name. It says, Nathaniel"

"No, you gotta be kidding me, look it says Rue de Gotlieb 12 Paris and…..oh you're right," Said the raccoon looking at the name on the tag of Nathaniel.

"Yes and give the collar back to the drama queen here" Demanded Lila making Nathaniel stare in shock at the vixen.

"Drama queen?" Asked Nathaniel. "I'm not a drama queen"

"I'll do it," Said the raccoon jumping down at Nathaniel's back, placing the around Nathaniel's neck.

"Hey thanks, that's really…..nice from you..." Said Nathaniel, as the raccoon fastened a bit hard on Nathaniel's neck. "H….hey….a little less tight…." Whispered Nathaniel, while breathing a bit slow.

"Hey you're hurting his neck," Told Lila shocked and the raccoon tried to adjust it, but did it worse.

"Oh no, I can't pull it back," Said the raccoon looking at Lila and Rocky.

"Help….." Whispered Nathaniel to the others and Lila grabbed on the collar, placing her snout on it, starting to bite with her fangs. The raccoon jumped off Nathaniel's back looking at Lila, trying to cut the collar of his neck off. Lila managed it and the collar felt down from Nathaniel's neck.

"You're feeling better?" Asked Lila looking worried at Nathaniel and he nodded.

"Yeah" Responded Nathaniel. "Bad about the collar been broken now"

"Don't worry, your owner will give you a new one" Responded Rocky. "If you make it home to them"

"Maybe, but it will take a while," Told Nathaniel. "She will have to make one again"

"Don't worry about it" Said Rocky.

"And sorry about the loss," Told the raccoon. "By the way, weren't you all jailed back at Lorenzo's kennel?" Asked the raccoon and the others nodded.

"Yep" Responded Lila. "Oh you were the one on the last file, near the entrance to the fights" Explained Lila and the gray animal nodded.

"Yes right" Replied the raccoon. "I'm Darwin"

"Nice to meet you," Said Lila. "This is Nathaniel as you saw before, this is Rocky and I'm Lila"


	10. On the way

**Chapter 10**

The three animals were following Darwin along the road, which goes out of the village they were before. Rocky sniffed on the ground, they were walking and in front of him walked the two tomato foxes and the black and gray raccoon.

"Sicily goes this road away," Told Darwin pointing at a white sign with the cities' name on it, including the kilometers it takes to there. "

"40km doesn't seem that far" Said Rocky looking at it.

"By car, it's faster, than by foot," Told Nathaniel. "That's usually told how long it is for cars?"

"The length is for everything the same, but the time isn't" Corrected Darwin. "A car can maybe take an hour, while we take like eight or a day"

"The other day before, we were taken by that human into that jail to fight other dogs by car," Told Lila. "We didn't see, where we came from"

"Right, right"

"That will be a long walk," Said Nathaniel looking at the others.

"Aww are you afraid?" Asked Lila teasingly.

"No, no of course not," Said Nathaniel walking forwards leaving the others back. "Come one, the soon we go the faster, we arrive"

"We see, how long it will take" Told Lila the other two gray animals, walking behind Nathaniel.

"I know many places, where we can eat or rest" Told Darwin following the foxes along with Rocky.

"That's great" Replied Lila. "The last place we didn't find anything eatable"

"You're the wild expert, aren't you to know that?" Asked Nathaniel.

"I owe you a diner if you find first food before me" Added Lila pushing him to the side with her back.

"And if not I owe you….uh..."

"Stop flirting you two" Demanded Rocky, making Darwin laugh,

"We aren't flirting!" Responded Nathaniel. "Do foxes flirt like this?" Asked Nathaniel looking at Lila, which shook her head.

"Definitely domesticated"

"Okay, okay...what do they do then?" Asked Nathaniel. "How do they get a mate?"

"Well the female screams for a few times, until the male answers with another scream"

"That sounds ridiculous" Replied Nathaniel.

"You're laughing at your own kind"

"I wasn't laughing, I said it was just weird."

"And what happens next then?" Asked Rocky.

"We mate and some months later we get our first kits and raise them,"

"Wait if one day a vixen screams around, she's looking for a mate?" Asked Nathaniel.

"Can you two talk about this another time?" Asked Darwin. "I'm getting sick of this conversation"

"We haven't even reached that far with it," Told the vixen looking back at the male raccoon.

"I know, but It's plain weird to talk about it"

Marinette sat on a couch searching through the internet for something. She sighed and pressed the home button of her smartphone, activating a software on her phone, which started to talk to her.

" _Hello Marinette, what can I do for you?"_

"Hello Siri, my best friend died. I need help"

" _What's the name of your friend?"_ Asked the smartphone's software.

"Nathaniel Kurtzberg" Responded Marinette.

" _I can't find Daniel Kurtzbörg in your contacts. Do you want to add it to your contacts?"_

"I didn't ask you to look for it in the contacts"

" _Calling Nathaniel"_

"His phone is deactivated!" Shouted Marinette at the phone and threw it across the room, making it crash on the wall. "God damn it!"

Someone knocked on the door, which Marinette heard and made her yell across the room.

"Get out of here!" Shouted Marinette angry, while losing tears from her eyes.

"Marinette it's me Adrien," Said the voice behind the door. "Are you alright?"

"Leave me alone!"

"Can you tell me, what's going on?" Asked the blonde. "Is it because of Nathaniel?"

"Go away!"

"I promise, we find Nathaniel and Lila, don't cry"

"Adrien go away!" Shouted Marinette. "Please, I just want to be left alone"

"But Marinette..."

"Please, just go!" Shouted Marinette crying even more and sinking down in the couch while covering her face.

On the outside Adrien sighed and sat down in front of the door, thinking about, what was going on with Marinette.

Nathaniel, Lila, Darwin and Rocky had stopped by a gas station and Nathaniel was sniffing around looking for a place to empty his bladder. He passed by a bush, then sniffed on it and found various red berries on it.

"Hey Lila" Called Nathaniel. "Look I found some food," Told Nathaniel and Lila ran, followed by Darwin to him.

"Where?" Asked Lila and Nathaniel rolled his eyes at the bush,

"Here those red ones here," Said Nathaniel wanting to grab one with his mouth, then Lila pulled him away by his tail.

"They're poisoned!" Warned Lila causing him to turn around at her, looking face to face.

"They are?!" Asked Nathaniel surprised.

"Those berries are like certain mushrooms. Some are poisonenous, others aren't. You learn the differences when you're in the wild" Told Darwin.

"Look Nath, smell on them and tell me, what you smell" Asked Lila and Nathaniel hold his nose close to the red berry, soaking the scent of it, which only animals with a good nose can trace.

"They definitely have a tip of another scent in it" Replied Nathaniel looking at Lila.

"See?" Asked Lila. "When we find not poisoned berries, I let you smell on them and then you learn the difference between them"

"Thank you for explaining to me that" Thanked Nathaniel. "You have been very gentle to me, the other days"

"No problem, we're after all the last two of our breeds, right?" Asked Lila with a wink.

"Uh right" Agreed Nathaniel with an awkward smile. Lila giggled and nudged Nathaniel on his nose, making him blush.

"We have to leave now!" Exclaimed Darwin running on his four legs at the two foxes

."Why?" Asked Nathaniel looking at the raccoon.

"It's Brutus" Responded Darwin. "He's looking for us"

"We better go then," Said Nathaniel looking around. "What about Rocky?" Asked Nathaniel and looking at the other two.

"I don't know, but he's already here!" Shouted Darwin and Brutus stopped in front of the three animals growling at them.

"Look who I found here," Said Brutus. "Mr. and Mrs. Fox"

"What do you want?" Asked Lila looking at the tall Mastiff in front of her.

"Lorenzo wants your friend there and I need to take him. Alive!"

"Me?" Asked Nathaniel. "Why?"

"That's why" Responded Brutus pulling from the side of his collar a familiar para cord collar with three colors out to the ground, showing it to the foxes.

"Lorenzo needs the money of the reward they have set in finding you," Told Lorenzo. "Your owner sat 10'000 bucks on you and he's willing to get more from there"

"Marinette's looking for me?" Asked Nathaniel.

"He's not going anywhere with you," Told Lila. "Did you hear that Nathaniel? That's just a trick"

"Are you for sure?" Asked Brutus growling at the female. Lila growled at the taller dog, which then tried to bite her on the neck, but she quickly dodged away from him and jumped on top of him biting him on the ear.

"Lila!" Shouted Nathaniel scared and Brutus shook his head, causing Lila to slip off his ear and land on her back a few centimeters away from the others.

Nathaniel looked at Brutus, which looked now at Nathaniel, then the male fox growled and attacked the Italian dog on his other ear, then the Mastiff shook his head with Nathaniel on it around, then he got thrown away at Lila.

"Ouch" Replied Nathaniel and Lila stood in front of Nathaniel growling at the big dog, which growled back at her. Nathaniel stood up and joined Lila, doing the same noise as her.

"Do you think you two, could take it with me?" Asked Brutus glaring lurid at the two foxes.

"But I can," Said another voice and it was Rocky jumping at Brutus, taking him down.

"Go, follow Darwin. He will bring you out of here!" Demanded Rocky.

"But what about you?" Asked Lila.

"I'll find you two later, don't worry about me," Said Rocky, then both ran away and Nathaniel turned his head back, seeing Rocky fighting with the Italian Mastiff.

"I hope he will make it out" Said Nathaniel.

"Keep running guys," Told Lila and Darwin jumped on Nathaniel's back.

"You guys are way faster than me, I hope you don't mind" Said Darwin looking at Nathaniel, which wasn't really amused of carrying the raccoon.

"You need to go to the fitness, you're heavy"

"Don't worry, it's not for so long, but talking about that. Darwin do you know any other ways instead of this one to Sicily?" Asked Lila looking at the ringtail.

"I know a long one, but I can't promise to you to help you over there. I'm not very familiar with that place"

"It doesn't matter as long as Brutus doesn't find us, it be good" Agreed Lila.

"If anyone finds a bush, I really need to use it," Said Nathaniel making Lila chuckle.

"Don't worry, we will find a place for you to pee," Told Lila making Darwin laugh.


	11. Past Life

**Chapter 11**

" _I'm sick of her attitude!" Wrote Nathaniel as a message to someone on the other side of the application._

" _ **Nathy, calm down. What did miss I'm better-than-anyone do today?"** Asked the person on the other side, which had the name Lila. _

" _She emptied her damn beauty drink over my drawing I made for Marinette"_

" _ **Beauty drink?"**_

" _Some Asian mispelt drink, she bought in a new Asian luxurious store here in Paris."_

" _ **Listen sweetie, I know that Nanette probably did this to make you angry, but look you have to be strong. Try to act like you don't care about it, ignore her when she mocks about you. She's just a miserable person with a sad life."**_

" _This is kind of difficult for me"_

" _ **Come on, you can do it. Believe in me."**_

" _Okay, I'll try. Thank you Lila. You're the best."_

* * *

" _H….hey Marinette" Greeted Nathaniel holding a sheet in his hand._

" _Hey Nathaniel" Greeted Marinette waving. "How's going?"_

 _I'm good" Responded Nathaniel looking down at his sheet, then looked up at Marinette._

" _Where's Alya?" Asked Nathaniel looking at Marinette. "I haven't seen her for two days?"_

" _She went to Martinique" Responded Marinette. "Her grandmother died"_

" _Oh" Replied Nathaniel taking the sheet he had to his back._

" _What are you hiding back there?" Asked Marinette looking behind him_

" _Oh it's nothing" Responded Nathaniel and Marinette smirked and tried to take the sheet away from the hands of the red head._

" _No I said it's nothing," Said Nathaniel holding the sheet away from her, then she stopped and looked neutral at him._

" _Alright I stop" Responded Marinette and walked at the side of him, then she quickly stole the sheet of Nathaniel to look at it._

" _No!" Shouted Nathaniel and Marinette was surprised about it._

" _Did you draw this?" Asked Marinette showing the red head the drawing of himself and him on it._

" _Y….yeah" Responded Nathaniel embarrassed._

" _It's amazing" Responded Marinette._

" _W...want to keep it?" Stuttered Nathaniel and the bluenette nodded._

" _Thank you"_

* * *

" _I think it wasn't a good idea to give Nanette the lead of the school's news" Said Rose to Marinette. "She's using it to make fun of others"_

" _Why are you saying that?" Asked Marinette and Juleka showed Marinette a page of the news paper with a picture of a sketch of Nathaniel, which had him drawn as a super hero carrying Marinette on his arms with the title **red headed dork dreams to be a superhero**._

" _What?" Asked Marinette. "Why did she do that?"_

" _Probably not to make him popular or something," Told Rose._

" _Well it's just a drawing, it's not like people are going to make fun of him._

* * *

" _What happened to you?" Asked Marinette as she found Nathaniel sitting on the floor with his head and his shirt wet. Next to him was Ivan and Luka taking care of the boy._

" _Kim and two of the other class dived Nathaniel's head inside the toilet and flushed the water over his full head._

" _That's horrible, why did they do this?" Asked Marinette and Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders._

" _I heard he tried to talk with Nanette about that last post on the journal and she wanted to get revenge on him, she then agitated the others to get Nathaniel" Explained Luka._

" _Nathaniel, why did you do this?" Asked Marinette._

" _I'm...I…I tried to handle this with Nanette, like my online friend said, but..."_

" _Nathaniel, stop getting advice from the internet. She's not a real friend, we are" Said Marinette._

" _But she's been helping me way more than you!" Exclaimed Nathaniel, then started to cry. Along the corridor passed a blonde with two other girls by them and started to laugh._

" _Aww look at the big baby crying," Said the blonde, making Marinette angry._

* * *

" _Marinette is so stupid!" Texted Nathaniel back to his online friend Lila. "She said you're not a real friend, that doesn't know how to give advice."_

" _ **Okay you tried, I think maybe it's better if you try to ignore them...Why haven't you tried to talk with the principal of the school?"**_

" _She's Chloé Bourgeois' cousin, if someone has a problem with her, she will call her daddy and resolve it the unfairest way as usual"_

" _ **Man some people can really misuse their power"**_

" _Yeah, since Nanette is substituting Alya, the school has been way worse to me"_

" _ **Well you only got to wait two more weeks, until Alya is back and then she will deal with later"**_

" _Hopefully it will go fine"_

" _ **It will go well. The next day will be better, than today"**_

* * *

 _Marinette was walking in the court of the school and saw many students reading on their phones and three other students on a newspaper something, that was entertaining the school for some reason._

" _Look at how funny he looks here," Said one of the students, then Marinette ran at one, that had a journal in his hands and took it away from the hands of him._

" _What did they do again?" Asked Marinette looking at the journal, then read the title of the journal._

" _Student records himself with a camera satisfying himself" Read Marinette and the boy from the journal hit her on the back._

" _Your friend is a real jerk, why does he share a clip of himself doing that?" Asked the guy, making Marinette embarrassed._

" _He would never do that" Said Marinette and Kim touched her on the shoulder and showed a video of a short boy in the dark, which the shadows, which were slight able to see on the back of him, which looked like Nathaniel._

" _I love you Marinette..." Said the voice, followed by a few moans and a strange movement down at the screen, which looked like a thick sausage, dancing around and injecting liquid out of it._

" _Eww" Replied Marinette disgusted. "How could he?"_

* * *

" _Lila you know, that this is the only profile I got here on IG. You don't believe, that I'm a dirty rat, that records myself masturbating on a girl, don't you?"_

" _ **I kind of know that. Can I text you later? I'm going to diner with some rich family from my parents' relationship circle. Does it go?"**_

" _It's fine Lila, go ahead"_

" _ **You're a sweetie"** Responded Lila back with a kiss behind her sentence._

 _Nathaniel smiled at her sentence, then changed to other social sites and had a few messages of friends or acquaintance persons. He opened the inbox of his messenger and shrieked as he saw, what his messages were._

" _You're so disgusting!" Wrote the blonde daughter of the mayor. Nathaniel switched to the next message, which was from Kim._

" _Next time use protection when you're doing that again"_

" _I didn't do this" Thought Nathaniel. "The guy, who did this, just wanted to make fun of me"_

 _The next message was from Aurore, from the class of Ms. Mendeleiev._

" _You're so disgusting, how can you publish such thing on the internet?" Asked Aurore, making Nathaniel have tears in his eyes and hide his head between his legs, as he sat on his bed._

* * *

" _I've tried to talk with Nanette about what she's doing, but she doesn't listen to me. She keeps writing stuff about Nathaniel and a few others" Told Nino to Marinette, which hold her smartphone, looking at him, while they sat on the stairs._

" _Nathaniel is feeling more insecure with the time more of those things appear on the news and now since that video from last week more." Told Marinette. "But why did he record that video?"_

" _How can you say, that's him?" Asked Nino. "It was recorded in the dark, we can't tell, that it was really him or not"_

" _I think it was him….I mean I'm still not sure, but why won't he show up at class or at the break?"_

" _He's not feeling well with all this, wouldn't you do the same, if you were in his situation?" Asked Nino moving his cap._

" _I would try to talk with the others about it" Responded Marinette. "I told this many times to Nathaniel, but I think he isn't doing it good enough"_

" _If no one helps him, makes sense, that he fails doing that"_

" _I don't know Nino, what else I should do"_

" _Just pay attention to Nathaniel's behavior. If something is weird on him, tell it to me. He might get to some point, where he wants to put an end to this"_

" _He hopefully will do this" Said Marinette. "I have to go to the bathroom, I'll meet you later in class"_

" _Sure" Replied Nino and Marinette left and behind the stairs was Nathaniel, looking depressed at Marinette leaving Nino back._

* * *

 _Nathaniel sat inside his room writing a note on a sheet, while glaring at his smartphone, waiting for someone to text him._

" _Lila hasn't texted me ever for two weeks," Thought Nathaniel picking the phone up and looking for her number, to find out, she hasn't been online for that said time._

" _She probably got sick of me constantly talk about my miserable life, that she now hates me and decided to ditch me, like Marinette. Now Marinette doesn't want to interact with me, because of that idiots video!" Thought Nathaniel losing more tears from his eyes. He took a breath and looked at the sheet, where he had written several words. "I'll be ending all this tonight," Said Nathaniel decisive then saw his phone vibrating after a message._

" _Let it be Lila, oh lord please, please, please," Said Nathaniel looking at the display and seeing another bad message to him._

" _I saw your video from last week, text me back, if you want to know, how to tell a girl her feelings correctly, rather than fapping in front of the cam. Hahaha"_

 _Nathaniel threw his phone towards his school utensils at the corner of his table, mad at the guys comment from before. He stared at the utensils lying down on the table, seeing one of his scissors lying with the legs open to his face and he slowly reached his hand to the scissors and hold it in front of his face, while shivering a bit through his body. Nathaniel slowly pulled his sleeve of his dress jacket back, looking at the few red grazes, he had on his arm, then placed the point of the scissor over a healthy part of his skin, carving slowly with the scissor a rift, followed by a little bit of blood running out of his arm, causing Nathaniel to sigh relieved._

 _Later in the night, Nathaniel was walking on the roof of the school building looking around the buildings around him._

" _ **He's a really great friend of mine"** Rang Marinette's through Nathaniel's head._

" _ **What's with him?" Asked Juleka looking at Rose, as Nathaniel stared at Marinette laughing along with Alya.**_

" _ **Duh, don't you know, that Nath is in love with Marinette?" Asked Rose loud, making Nathaniel look embarrassed at the blonde, then covering her mouth, quickly.**_

" _ **Shhh Rose!" Said Nathaniel looking around if someone heard it and Marinette was looking at the three, then waved at them. Rose and Juleka waved normally, then Nathaniel waved at her two, yet looking with an embarrassed smile at the girl.**_

" _She was never meant to ever go out with you," Thought Nathaniel walking closer to the edge of the building, glaring down at the corner for the trash containers._

" _I practically shouldn't have been born" Said Nathaniel to himself. "I was coming unexpectedly. That's why my father has left me and my mother alone"_

" _ **Your father...well, he ran away..." Said Nathaniel's mother glaring into the blue eyes of the boy.**_

" _ **W….what?" Asked Nathaniel surprised.**_

" _ **We actually weren't ready to have our first child, but** **I and your dad had made together, after the new year and as I found out I was pregnant and told him that, he left me alone"**_

 _ **Nathaniel kept looking shocked at his mother.**_

" _ **Please son, I don't want you to think, that your ruined my life or something. For me, you will always be my…."**_

" _ **I love you mom," Said Nathaniel grabbing her mother to a hug. His mother stuck her head in Nathaniel's neck, sobbing and followed by Nathaniel petting the back of her mother.**_

" _I hope you can forgive me mom" Said Nathaniel standing on the top of the roof. "Why am I doing this?"_

" _ **Nathaniel, please try to ignore them. I know you can do this"** Said Marinette inside his head._

" _ **Ignore that** **misbehaving** **pood** **le,** **you're great the way you are"** Was a thing Lila said to Nathaniel._

" _ **Oh look it's the lasagna boy,"** Said Nanette making the others laugh._

" _ **Lasagna?"** Asked Rose. **"Why Lasagna?"**_

" _ **Guys look, Nathaniel wears Cat Noir underwear,"** Said Nanette after Nino had accidentally pulled Nathaniel's pants down in front of the photographer, which was taking new pictures of the classes. All laughed at Nathaniel, making him blush out of embarrassment,_

" _ **I don't know Nino, what else I should do"** Said Marinette to Nino._

" _ **Just pay attention to Nathaniel's behavior. If something is weird on him, tell it me. He might get to some point, where he wants to put an end to this"**_

" _ **He hopefully will do this"** Said Marinette._

" _ **I feel like no one does really care…."** Nathaniel told Marinette, which glared at a blonde boy._

" _ **It's Adrien!"** Shouted a girl and few others ran behind him, while Marinette observed it._

" _ **Like I said…."** Replied Nathaniel looking at Marinette staring at the fan girls following the model boy._

" _ **If I were there, they would have been respecting you more, than the politicians our family."** Told Lila on message._

" _ **Believe me, you can make this Nathaniel, believe in you"**_

" _ **Go kill yourself"**_

" _ **You're so disgusting"**_

" _ **Hey need a piece of girl advice? I think masturbating isn't the best solution"**_

 _Nathaniel face frowned during all those words and sentences, he saved in his heart from all those bad memories from the last month, then looked down at the corner of the trash disposal. Nathaniel turned himself around looking towards the Eiffel Tower, one of his favorite important attraction of Paris, making him smile a little._

" _Goodbye," Said Nathaniel and let himself fall down with his back, followed by a loud noise as he crashed on something iron like down at the corner._

* * *

 _Next day Marinette was walking towards the school and saw lots of students running to the back of the school calling the attention of the bluenette._

" _What's going on?" Asked Marinette herself, then from behind appeared Rose and Juleka running towards Marinette._

" _Marinette come it's Nathaniel!" Shouted Rose running the way, the other students were going._

" _What's going on?" Asked Marinette._

" _Nathaniel is dead!" Responded Rose with watery eyes. "He took his life!"_

" _What?" Asked Marinette shocked. "How...how do you know that?"_

" _Kagami went this morning early to fencing and she found him dead. She called help" Responded Rose and Marinette ran along with the girls to the back of the school to find Myléne's father trying to reanimate Nathaniel._

" _Nooo!" Shouted Marinette as she saw the state of Nathaniel. Rose fainted on Juleka's arms, while Juleka stared shocked at seeing Nathaniel lie on a half dried blood puddle._

 _Miss Bustier appeared along with Mr. Argentcourt and reacted as well horrified at the dead body of the teen._

" _Listen mes enfants. The ambulance is on the way to take Nathaniel" Told Miss Bustier. "Please follow me into the school, I need to talk with you all about this"_

" _Marinette come" Asked Kagami as the most students were making their way behind the teacher._

" _I can't leave him now. He needs me" Told Marinette and Kagami shook her head._

" _I'm sorry to say this Marinette, but I think he's definitely gone. For real" Said Kagami, then Marinette's eyes filled themselves with tears and she hugged Kagami, crying._

" _Nooooo! Why did this happen to him?"_

 _Kagami's eyes also got watery as the half Asian girl cried her eyes out on her shoulder. Rose and Juleka stared at the two girls, then hugged each other, while Monsieur Haprèle was around Nathaniel._

" _Please kids, come" Demanded Miss Bustier feeling tragic, then saw the police and an ambulance arriving at the streets, followed by two co-driver of the ambulance running out to the back, then pulling out a rescue lie and making their way up to the accident location._

 _Miss Bustier accompanied Marinette and Kagami away from the local and Marinette turned her head back, seeing one of the paramedics standing in the way of Marinette's view, to assist the young redhead._

 _Both entered the school building to listen to Miss Bustier and co. talking about, what just happened to Nathaniel and Marinette just observed the ambulance standing on the street, until she saw the rescue lie, covered with a towel entering into the ambulance and leaving the place with the sirens, followed by the police car and a thunder in the sky, announcing the citizens, that it would rain._

 _Marinette looked back at the empty seat, where Nathaniel used to seat and saw Luka glaring at the empty seat next to him, feeling terrible about the situation from now. Marinette lied her head on the table, starting to cry and in front of her Nino looked back and tried to calm her down, followed by Alya, which sat next to her._


	12. Revelation

**Chapter 12**

The next morning Marinette lied on the ground in front of her couch with dark eyes, from sleeping badly last night.

"I just want to die" Said Marinette and tried to stand up by herself with the help of her coffee table. Marinette walked to the bath room to wash her face off, then cleaned it up with a towel and made her way across the room to the exit. She opened it and as she walked out she tripped over something, falling down on the ground.

"Whoa!" Replied Marinette after flying down, then looked back to see on what she tripped and it was on a person. That was Adrien Agreste, who slept there on the ground for no reason.

"Adrien?" Asked Marinette. "Adrien!" Shouted Marinette shaking him, causing him to wake up.

"Whoa!" Shouted Adrien shocked then shrieked as he saw Marinette with eye bags in front of him. "Uh good morning" Greeted Adrien a bit perplexed.

"Morning Adrien" Greeted Marinette sad. "D...did you overnight here?"

"I'm your friend, I was worried about you," Said Adrien taking her hand. "I know, it's been a few days, that we haven't seen our foxes, but trust me, they're okay. Who knows, maybe they even bounded a good relationship with each other."

"Adrien I….I have to tell you something…."

"W...what?" Asked Adrien a bit surprised.

"I wasn't crying about the fox Nathaniel yesterday," Told Marinette and Adrien nodded. "It was about Nathaniel Kurtzberg. My other best friend, beside Alya"

"Okay and...uhm...why exactly were you crying?" Asked Adrien.

"A while ago Nathaniel committed suicide" Admitted Marinette making Adrien look surprised at Marinette's message to him.

"Wh...why?" Asked Adrien, then Marinette got sad at the question. "You can trust me Marinette"

"I think it was my fault. If I did talk more or pay attention to him, like Nino told to, he would still be here"

"What about exactly?" Asked Adrien trying to put all the pieces of the mystery together.

"A rich cousin from Chloé called Nanette bullied him along with a few other students and even published it on the newspaper of the school, while Alya was away from Paris."

"Oh no"

"After someone published a video pretending to be Nathaniel masturbating, because of me, the bullying got worse, then others started to bully him on the internet and...and…." Said Marinette now starting to cry in Adrien's arms.

"Shhh calm down Marinette" Said Adrien. "It's good, that you told me that"

"It's my fault, why didn't I help him more?" Asked the bluenette sobbing. "Even that online girl was better than me"

"Online girl?" Asked Adrien thinking on Lila's red headed online friend, then shook his head. "Come Marinette don't say, it's your fault. You couldn't know, that this would happen" Said the blonde petting the friends head. "Look, why don't we go visit a mourning consultant. I know one I went to deal with Lila's dead and that might help you"

"Okay" Replied Marinette and Adrien hold her hands, looking at her. "But first let's go eat breakfast" Said Adrien smiling at the bluenette, which gave him a little smile.

"Let's go then," Said Adrien walking along the corridor with Marinette.

* * *

In a park Nathaniel lied along with Lila under a bench sleeping. Darwin sat on the to p of the bench looking around the park at the few people, that hang there with their dogs.

"Wonder if Rocky made it," Asked Darwin himself observing a Border Collie playing with a kid fetch.

Darwin's stomach growled and he saw a family with two children doing a picnic and eating grilled hot dogs, which were grilled by the family man of them. Darwin licked his lips and jumped down at the ground, then looked back at the foxes.

"Psst wake up" Whispered Darwin and Lila opened her eyes, releasing a yawn from her then looked up at the raccoon.

"Did you see something?" Asked Lila and he nodded.

"Well, there's a family doing a picnic and they got food there in their basket" Showed Darwin pointing at the brown wicker, which Lila saw from down the bench.

"I don't know, if that's a good idea to take from there" Responded Lila, then saw Nathaniel's nose moving as his nose got the scent of the sausages. Nathaniel woke up, lifting his head up to look, from where the smell comes from.

"A picnic!" Replied Nathaniel excited and Lila held Nathaniel's tag from stop wagging.

"That's not a good idea Nathaniel," Told Lila. "You're not in Paris"

"I know" Responded Nathaniel. "But I could try to get one or two out of the basket, without them to note"

"Why don't you do the puppy face,as dogs do?" Asked Lila ironic, then Nathaniel walked up to the humans.

"Is he going to do it? Asked Darwin and Lila looked shocked as he made his way up to the humans.

Nathaniel sat next to the towel of the picnic looking at the humans, then let a little bark out, calling the others attention.

"Look a fox," Said a boy pointing at Nathaniel. Nathaniel did the fox face, then whined like a fox, which was rather a little bit irritating for the ears of the humans there.

"Make it stop" Demanded the mother closing her ears along with the others, then the father took the grilling fork and wanted to hit Nathaniel with it, but then Lila jumped and bit in the middle of the fork, then tried to pull it of the man's hand.

"Lila!" Shouted Nathaniel surprised as she hold the fork.

"The man wanted to hit you with that instrument!" Told Darwin. "Lila saved you"

"Really?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila got kicked away by the man.

"Hey!" Shouted Nathaniel along with the family of the man.

"Honey! Not in front of the others!" Hissed the woman and Nathaniel bit on the point of the fork and took it away from the hands of the fox, growling at the man.

"Easy there little man," Said the man, looking at the fox holding the fork, growling at him. "Give me this thing," Said the man getting his hands closed on the instrument and Nathaniel growled louder, marching back slowly.

"Dad give the foxes some sausage" Demanded the oldest child, which was a girl. "They're probably hungry too"

"Come on you two," Said the woman taking a large, white sausage out of the basket, holding it closer to Lila. She smiled and stole it from her hand, leaving the others back and hid under the bench. Nathaniel saw it, then let the fork fall down and looked up at the man.

"Alright little man," Said the man and took from the basket three sausages and gave them to Nathaniel. "Here for your family," Said the man and observed Nathaniel taking them and looking back at Lila.

"Come back" Demanded Lila and he walked back at her and lied the sausages down at her.

"Not bad," Said Lila looking up at the male Tomato fox.

"Come Darwin, I got one for you too" Mumbled Nathaniel lying them down.

"Thank you" Said Darwin breaking a bit up from the sausages and started to chew on it.

"You're okay Lila?" Asked Nathaniel.

"About the scene with the fork?" Asked Lila and he nodded. "Yes, don't worry"

"You're lucky," Said Darwin. "Humans would have stabbed and pierced me up there, if I did got to get the food"

"What?" Asked Nathaniel surprised.

"Raccoons aren't really liked by lots of humans" Told Darwin.

"But not all, right?" Asked Nathaniel and Darwin nodded.

"Listen not all humans are all the same."

"Yeah I learned about it," Said Nathaniel sad. Lila lowered her face, as Nathaniel told that then she stood up and bumped him on his head.

"Nathaniel, you have to come with me," Told Lila.

"Why?" Asked Nathaniel.

"I want to show you the rest of the park," Told Lila. "Come" Said Lila running off.

"Hey wait" Said Nathaniel then looked at Darwin.

"Go, I'll be coming later" Said Darwin then Nathaniel ran behind Lila.

"Come and get me Nathaniel," Told Lila laughing, then Nathaniel laughed and pursued her along the park. Darwin smirked as the two foxes were playing with each other in the park.

"Those two are meant to be" Said Darwin picking up another piece of sausage to chew, while seeing the others run.


	13. Il Amore!

**Chapter 13**

Inside a therapy room, Marinette sat on a couch with Adrien talking with the consultant about, what happened with Nathaniel Kurtzberg.

"Alright Ms. Dupain-Cheng. Think about the good times you had with him, special occasions or funny moments you had with your friend" Told the man the blue haired girl.

Marinette closed her eyes trying to recall any moments of Nathaniel Kurtzberg.

" _Nathaniel, why did you do this?" Asked Marinette._

" _I'm...I…I tried to handle this with Nanette, like my online friend said, but..."_

" _Nathaniel, stop getting advice from the internet. She's not a real friend, we are" Said Marinette._

 _"_ _But she's been helping me way more than you!" Exclaimed Nathaniel, then started to cry._

 _Marinette frowned her_ _face as she had a bad memory of him._

 _" _I….uhm…__ __.I ….kind of..._ __like you…." Stuttered Nathaniel_ _in front of Marinette with a_ _Rose._

 _"_ __Aww look the loser has got a crush on Marinette,"_ __Said Nanette to her cousin Chloé that walked along with her and Sabrina. Chloé started to laugh along with_ _Nanette and_ _Nathaniel looked at Marinette, which felt embarrassed then he walked backward away from her and ran off._

 _"No, no! It doesn't work" Said Marinette holding her head. "I keep having_ _bad memories!"_ _Told Marinette and Adrien sighed sadly at Marinette failing again._

 _"_ _Okay," Said the man. "_ _I suggest you to_ _find in your house a special place to lie or sit down, listen to your favorite song_ _s_ _and_ _it will be good for you._ _It will give you positive feelings and_ _sink your sadness a bit down."_

 _"_ _I've been listening to How to save a life for hours and it gets worse,"_ _Said Marinette making the consultant roll his eyes._

 _"Probably listening to that song isn't to all persons the best solution, when it comes to death of somebody, but I have another suggestion._ _Since you love to_ _sew, handicraft and_ _drawing, you could make a special album or_ _collage about your friend or do_ _something he loved to do."_

 _"_ _Yeah" Agreed Adrien. "Like for Lila._ _We named the fox Lila because she loves foxes very much and I_ _tried_ _also_ _to find book publisher_ _for a book she wrote. She love_ _d_ _to write_ _stories_ _and that would be_ _honoring to do"_

 _"_ _So I could do for Nathaniel something alike?" Asked Marinette and Adrien nodded. "But I think_ _he never finished his comics"_ _Said Marinette._

 _"Well….._ _you could try to finish them for him or_ _publish them on pages like Deviantart"_ _Suggested Adrien._

 _"About the site...you could also make money with it and if you or him, like to help other people, you could donate the money of it to a welfare" Added the consultant to them. "_ _You could do something positive for the world and also honor in memory of your friend"_

 _Marinette thought on the idea of the consultant,_ _then looked at him and nodded._

 _"_ _I'll try that"_ _Said Marinette._

 _"Good Marinette," Said Adrien. "_ _If you want_ _I assist you"_

 _"_ _Our time here is over," Said the consultant looking at his watch. "I hope I could at least help you a bit and if you want you can come back to me or when you're back in Paris look there for another one_ _to help you to deal with the grieve"_

 _"_ _Alright thank you for the help" Said Adrien shaking the hand of the Italian consultant, followed by Marinette and both walked out of the therapy room to the outside._

 _"_ _So uhm….what are you going to do now?" Asked Adrien._

 _"Well, all the stuff is up in Paris in Nathaniel's mother's house."_ _Responded Marinette._

 _"But you could make a scrapbook about Nathaniel" Suggested Adrien. "Do you have pictures of him on your phone?"_

 _"I think I deleted them, but maybe I can find them on my cloud?"_

 _"_ _Sure let's go to the_ _clinic, by the way, we can pass by a stationery store, where we could_ _organize_ _…."_

 _"Thank you so much," Said Marinette hugging Adrien._ _Adrien looked surprised at_ _Marinette, getting a bit red on his face._ _He placed his arms around her into the_ _comforting_ _hug of the girl while petting her head._

 _"No problem"_ _Responded Adrien smiling lovely. "_ _Come let's go" Said Adrien smiling at Marinette and both walked away from the building towards a bus station across the road._

* * *

 _In the afternoon Darwin was looking around the city for Nathaniel and Lila all by himself._

 _"_ _I probably should have stayed back. They must have_ _come_ _back by now and see, that I'm not there"_

 _Darwin passed by a_ _n_ _alley, then looked into that alley, where a few containers were for trash._

 _"_ _I look if I find them here or maybe a little snack or something,"_ _Said Darwin walking into the_ _alley, then climbed_ _up at one container to the top to see it was closed._

 _"_ _Hmm how should I open this?"_ _Asked_ _Darwin himself._

 _"_ _Need some help?" Asked a voice, shrieking Darwin._

 _"Whoa!" He replied losing his balance and fall on the top of a gray dog._

 _"_ _You're okay?" Asked the dog._

 _"_ _Oh Rocky, you're alright!" Said Darwin glad_ _about the sight of the tall mutt._

 _"Where are Lila and Nathaniel?" Asked Rocky and Darwin shrugged his arms._

 _"_ _Lila took Nathaniel to show him around and I waited for them, but left, cause they never came back"_

 _"_ _We will find them," Said Rocky. "I want to warn them about Brutus. I tried to fight him off, but he_ _left me back to keep looking for them and we need to bring them back to the_ _reserve, where they were before or Brutus finds them"_

 _"_ _Okay then we have to find them fast"_

 _"_ _Come, show me, where you were with them and help me to get the scent of the two" Demanded Rocky and Darwin nodded and ran on it's four out of the alley followed by the stray._

On the other side of the neighborhood, _Lila walked along with Nathaniel on the_ _streets looking around the houses of families._

 _"_ _Do you live in a sort of house like this?" Asked Lila and Nathaniel shook his head._

 _"_ _No,_ _o_ _ur house is different. T_ _he floor is_ _the_ _bakery, where Marinette's parents work, the se_ _cond floor is their house and the third is Marinette's room."_

 _"_ _And where do you sleep?" Asked Lila interested._

 _"_ _I have my bed in front of the window with the sight to the_ _Notre Dame"_

 _"Oh la la" Replied Lila making Nathaniel laugh._

 _"We don't talk like that in Paris"_

 _"_ _Ah la baguette!" Said Lila followed by a laughter. "Sorry, it just sounds so funny"_

 _"_ _Fine, it kind of is"_

 _"_ _You probably get there a lot to eat, right?" Asked Lila._

 _"Maybe" Responded Nathaniel. "I get food in the morning, over the midday and in the afternoon" Explained Nathaniel followed by a growl from his stomach._

 _"_ _Already hungry?" Asked Lila with a grin._

 _"_ _I didn't eat my sausage, because of you"_

 _"So I!"_ _Responded Lila. "_ _I'm more used to eat less since I live in the wild"_

 _"_ _I can see that" Told Nathaniel. "_ _At least you're not alone"_

 _"Alone?" Asked Lila looking at Nathaniel, which stopped._

 _"Y...yeah..."_

 _"_ _How alone?" Asked Lila. "You got Marinette, her parents. Why isn't that good?"_

 _"I think...kind of..._ _the last days with you…..were kind of….more different….I don't know"_

 _"_ _Oh I think I know, what you mean" Said Lila, making Nathaniel tilt his head. "_ _You have never spent time with any other animals, right?"_

 _"_ _Well hanging with animals is much more different._ _They don't ask you to do tricks and all that"_

 _"But I thought you liked it"_

 _"I do, I do, but….I don't know."_

 _"_ _Well since my parents and my siblings death, I've been spending the time alone too._ _Only after meeting you and the others I started to…."_

 _"_ _Feel better?"_

 _"Complete" Corrected Lila, making Nathaniel blush a bit._

 _"_ _That's how I kind of feel about you"_

 _"Really?" Asked Lila, which turned Nathaniel more red._

 _"I guess….."_

 _"_ _You're sweet," Told Lila glaring at the ice blue eyes of the Tomato fox._ _Both smiled at each other amorously, then Nathaniel stomach growled again._

 _"_ _Sorry"_ _Apologized_ _Nathaniel_ _embarrassed_ _about_ _his appetite._

 _"_ _Come on,_ _let's go look for a place to dinner together"_

 _"Together?" Asked Nathaniel._

 _"You owe me a_ _dinner, did you forget?"_

 _"Oh right…." Said Nathaniel as he remembered about it. "Where?"_

 _"_ _I don't know, you have to look for it"_

 _"_ _Hmm" Replied Nathaniel and ran on the streets followed by the vixen to look for a place, where they could find food._

 _"_ _Where are you going?" Asked Lila and started to sniff the air. "Mmm that's a delicious smell"_

 _"_ _I'm smelling minced meat," Told Nathaniel. "It's very good"_

 _"_ _Good," Said Lila and Nathaniel turned on a crossroad to the left to see a big building of a_ _r_ _estaurant showing 5 starts on the billboard._

 _"_ _G_ _ustavo's_ _r_ _estaurant" Read Nathaniel._

 _"You can read?" Asked Lila surprised._

 _"Yes…..no…_ _..not really" Responded Nathaniel. "But Marinette's father is often watching cooking shows and they showed this restaurant"_

 _"_ _Ah"_

 _"_ _Let's go to the back of the house," Told Nathaniel and Lila followed him to the back, where they met one of the kitchen workers_ _putting a trash bag into a container._

 _"_ _Do you think you can get him to get some food?" Asked Lila._

 _"I'll try" Replied Nathaniel walking towards to the man. Nathaniel went on his hinds legs, then squeaked to get the attention of the man._

 _"_ _Un volpe!" Shouted the man scared, but saw, that he was_ _just begging. "_ _Oh you want some food?"_ _Asked the man and Nathaniel jumped around then walked up to Lila._

 _"Oh who is this?" Asked the man looking at the vixen. "Oh it's a girl!"_ _Told the man, making Lila smile shyly at the human. "_ _I'm going to bring you the best of Gustavo's restaurant" Promised the man, then entered back into the restaurant._

 _"_ _The best?"Asked Lila_ _looking at Nathaniel, which shrugged his shoulders._

 _"We'll see then", Said Nathaniel and the man came out with a_ _plastic bowl and a white textile serviette and placed it in front of the_ _two foxes._

 _"_ _Nice" Said Lila and the man went into the kitchen again and brought a platter with_ _raw meat and placed it in front of them._

 _"_ _Before can I know, what you want to dinner?" Asked the man and the foxes looked at each other._ _Both foxes looked at the man, then he realized he forgot something._

 _"Oh I forgot the menu card," Said the man followed by a facepalm. "I'll be right back"_

 _"_ _Hmm Salami," Said Lila sniffing one of the round meat bits, while Nathaniel_ _looked at two differen_ _t sorts of ham._

 _"_ _I don't know if I should take_ _smoked or pig ham,"_ _Asked Nathaniel looking at Lila, which chuckled about his question._

 _"_ _Bon appetite" Wished Lila taking a bit of Salami, then chew a little bit and swallowed it down._ _Nathaniel smiled and took a bite from two pieces of ham,_ _then swallowed it down and repeated it again, along with Lila._

 _"_ _Look at them Mario, so cute," Said the man, which served them the plate._

 _"_ _Shall we serve them with bolognese or_ _the Vienna sausage variant?"_ _Asked the second man._

 _"They get something new, something better!"_

 _"But what?" Asked the man looking at Mario, which then smiled as he had a_ _n_ _idea._

 _After the foxes have eaten all the meat, they sat there wondering, if the guys were coming out._

 _"_ _Do you think they come back?" Asked Lila._

 _"They have, that was just the appetizer"_ _Responded Nathaniel. "_ _We didn't have the_ _main dish yet…."_

 _"_ _oh ohooohooo…...ohooo hooo hoooo…..oh hoo hoooo"_ _Sang Mario coming out with a_ _Spaghetti_ _dish making his way up to the foxes._

 _"_ _Look here it is"_ _Told Nathaniel looking at the man along with Lila._ _The man placed the_ _meal on the table, which was Spaghetti, which stuck inside the spaghetti sticks and a bit of_ _bolognese on the top of the spaghetti._

 _"_ _Hey that's new" Said Nathaniel as he noted the_ _Vienna_ _sausages in the noodles._

 _"_ _That's not quite Italian, but seems tasty" Said Lila licking her lips._

 _"_ _I've never seen a girl,_ _that was just as amazing as you..."_ _Sang Mario getting looks from the two foxes. Both looked at each other, then looked away shyly from each other._

 _" _She's so beautiful.__ _A_ _nd I know you know it"_

 _Nathaniel_ _looked at Lila, which stared at him and he_ _pushed the plate closer to Lila, giving her a smile._ _She smiled back at him, then_ _gave a big bit one an amount of Spaghetti chewing it_ _a little bit, then engulfed it down surprising Nathaniel, which joined Lila in devouring it down together._

 _"_ _Baby! You're suuuuuuuchhhh a beauty!"_ _Sang the second man, whose voice was really wiring to everyone around and Mario hold_ _the guy's mouth to stop it._

 _"_ _Shhhh don't sing. You're voice is bad"_

 _"I can't help sir. I love to sing"_ _Said the second man while the foxes looked up at them, then back at each other. Lila smiled and_ _shoved her snout into the Spaghetti dish to finish the meal, followed by the male fox._ _Nathaniel licked up his lips after finishing the dish, then saw Lila's snout a bit dirty from the bolognese sauce and licked it up then stopped as he realized he licked her face, turning red._

 _Lila smiled amorously and leaned her head under Nathaniel's head, giving him a loving nuzzle, making_ _him excited._

 _The two Italians saw both nuzzling then smiled at each other and went back into the restaurant leaving the two alone._


	14. Next Morning

**Chapter 14**

The next morning the male fox lied alone next to a container sleeping with his head lied over his front paws.

"Nathaniel wake up!" Demanded a voice, making Nathaniel open his eyes. Then yawn.

"I'm awake" Responded Nathaniel lying his head down again. The voice was of Lila, which come from the entrance of the alley and made her way towards Nathaniel.

"Come wake up," Said Lila. "I have to show you something," Said Lila grabbing him on his ear, trying to pull him up.

"Okay I'm coming," Told Nathaniel standing up, then Lila removed her fangs of his ear. "What is it?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila ran off. "Wait Lila!" Called Nathaniel following her out of the alley.

Nathaniel ran now in the same line as Lila, then observed her excitement in her visage, making him smile, wondering, what possibly could have shown her this way.

"Here this way" Ordered Lila entering into another type of alley behind a tall building with lots of containers.

"That's a lot of containers," Told Nathaniel looking at Lila.

"The best thing a bunch of them get filled with the rest of the foods, human didn't eat"

"Wow," Said Nathaniel and Lila walked forwards, while Nathaniel followed her.

"And look" Said Lila showing him two middle-sized carton boxes, which were according to the logo a collection of various cereal boxes.

"Uh" Said Nathaniel looking at them.

"This bed here is mine and the second here is for you," Told Lila. "It looks dead I know, but with the time we will find more stuff to decorate and fill our box, maybe an old pet bed or something."

"Lila...I….uh..."

"Didn't you like it?" Asked Lila looking neutrally at the male fox.

"Of course I liked the idea you had with the bed and all, but….I need to go back to Marinette" Told Nathaniel making Lila sad.

"Right..." Responded Lila. "You have to"

"I really liked the idea Lila," Told Nathaniel. "Please don't be upset," Said Nathaniel looking into her eyes, making her smile a little bit.

"You're sweet," Told Lila, making Nathaniel smile with reached his nose slowly to Lila, then from above jumped a raccoon landing on Nathaniel's back, crushing him down, making Lila jump shocked away.

"There you are!" Said the raccoon, which was Darwin.

"Darwin!" Yelled Lila. "You scared us!"

"Sorry" Apologized Darwin with a chuckle helping Nathaniel stand up.

"I'm okay," Said Nathaniel. "Where have you been?"

"I've been looking for you and Rocky found me….Rocky right!" Shouted Darwin as he remembered. "We gotta follow Rocky to the train station. There's a freight train, which passes by Sicily, there you will be save from Brutus"

"Brutus is still here?" Asked Nathaniel shocked.

"Yeah, Rocky tried his best to stop him and Brutus is still trying to find you"

"Come Nathaniel, we should better go" Said Lila moving forwards. "Quick, before we miss the train"

"Alright show us the way," Asked Nathaniel the raccoon, which nodded and ran on his four paws the alley along, followed by the two foxes.

* * *

At the clinic, Marinette sat on the table next to Adrien looking at him uploading the pictures from her phone at the computer.

"Are you sure, you don't want to use Ifolor to create a photo album?" Asked Adrien looking at Marinette, which drew on the inside of the book cover an anime like character.

"I want to distract myself from everything" Responded Marinette.

"You know..." Said Adrien placing his hand over Marinette's arm. "Nathaniel wouldn't like if you would keep thinking, that what happened was your fault or that you weren't good enough to help him"

"….I know" Replied Marinette.

"Look the pictures are all now in the computer," Told Adrien clicking on a file, opening the folder and clicked on a picture to open it.

"Come closer, if you want" Suggested Adrien and Marinette pulled her chair closed to Adrien and looked at a picture of Nathaniel, where he stood along with Marinette, Nino and Alya in front of the Eiffel Tower.

"Nino" Replied Adrien. "I wonder how he's doing" Asked Adrien himself then changed to another picture of Nathaniel sitting on the stairs in front of the school drawing in his sketchbook.

The next one was a class picture of them, where Adrien was still present in their class. Adrien kept changing pictures, then they stopped by a picture, that showed Nathaniel sleeping on his desk, while beside him sat Juleka glaring down at him with a smile.

Marinette giggled while having a tear in her eyes.

Adrien changed to the next, but this one was a video that showed Alya singing a Spanish song and Nathaniel sit on a bench with his ears closed.

" _Stop it!" Cried Nathaniel at Alya, making Marinette laugh._

" _But that's the most popular song on the radio, we gotta sing it," Told Alya and kept doing her thing._

" _I know this song since January and it already sucked before"_

" _I thought it came out last month?" Asked Marinette._

" _That's what everyone says when a song gets popular out of the nowhere"_

"I gotta go with Nathaniel on this one. The song gets annoying by the many times it airs on the radio"

The video ended and Adrien jumped forwards landing on a picture, where there was a picture of Nathaniel with black trousers and a white shirt.

"A few months after you left there was prom night at the school and he went with me there" Explained Marinette the blonde. Adrien moved forwards, then it showed a picture with Marinette and Nathaniel sitting on a bench looking at the others dancing.

"How did Juleka actually react as he did, what he did?" Asked Adrien looking at the blunette.

"Ah….uh….well….actually they never dated. I just said that, because I was afraid, how you would react if I said Nathaniel died"

"Oh" Responded Adrien. "Well I understand you, it's not always easy to say that"

"Yeah….sorry"

"It's okay Marinette," Said Adrien placing his hand on her shoulder. Marinette smiled and leaned her forehead on his, surprising Adrien.

"Uh…..." Said Adrien and Marinette removed her head quickly.

"Sorry!" Apologized Marinette shocked. "I….I….wasn't..."

"It's okay Marinette" Replied Adrien with a little bit blush on his face. Marinette looked away, blushing redder than him and Adrien looked at the pictures then poked Marinette. "Should we keep watching it?" Asked Adrien. "I think it was going well"

"Alright" Responded Marinette making Adrien smile at her, then changing into another picture of Nathaniel, making Adrien chuckle.


	15. The Ride

**Chapter 15**

Rocky stood at the train station observing a cargo train passing by the platform looking around the place for the other predators to show up.

"Come on guys, the train is leaving" Said Rocky while he looked at the train leaving the station. "They're late" Said Rocky then heard someone calling his name.

"Rocky!" Shouted a voice and Rocky looked around and saw from a tunnel from the train station Darwin running along with Lila and Nathaniel towards the stray.

"We're here!" Shouted Darwin.

"Keep moving, the train is leaving!" Told Rocky.

By the other three, Lila looked at Nathaniel and Darwin.

"Come on, we gotta speed up" Said Lila and ran faster followed by Nathaniel.

"Keep running you two, if I miss it I can catch another one later" Said Darwin and Rocky rolled his eyes and ran towards the raccoon to pick him up.

"Where do we have to get in?" Asked Nathaniel observing the wagons and Lila saw a blue wagon with an open door, then she speeds forwards to the front of the male fox and jumped at the wagon.

"Come on jump!" Demanded Lila and Nathaniel jumped and clawed himself on the wagon and Lila pulled him up by his ear. "Well done"

"Thanks," Said Nathaniel then looked out of the wagon along with Lila seeing Rocky running behind them with Darwin.

"Come on Rocky, you can do it," Said Lila as Rocky ran closer to the train, then jumped at the wagon's door leaving Darwin over the ground of the wagon and Rocky felt down on the ground.

"Rocky!" Exclaimed the foxes and saw Rocky standing up and looking back at them in the train. Rocky started to follow their wagon from the side until he was vice versa to the entrance of the wagon.

"Stand back, Rocky needs a bit of place, " Told Darwin pulling them back and Rocky jumped into the wagon with his hind legs looking out of the wagon.

"Pull!" Demanded Darwin and Nathaniel and Lila pulled Rocky by his front legs into the wagon.

"We did it!" Said Nathaniel triumphantly.

"Well done you two" Said Rocky lying down next to the wall of the wagon.

"So how long will it take to Sicily?" Asked Nathaniel looking at Rocky and sitting his butt down on the ground.

"An hour I think" Responded Rocky. "We gotta keep an eye on the signs to see when we arrive"

"Alright," Said Nathaniel lying down.

"Don't worry Nathaniel, you'll be home soon," Said Lila sitting down next to him. Nathaniel smiled at Lila and closed his eyes and so did Rocky, leaving Darwin and Lila awake. Lila lied down too and refused to lie her head to Nathaniel's side, which Darwin noted and made him wonder if she had a problem with the male Tomato Fox.

"Are you alright?" Asked Darwin sitting down next to the vixen.

"Yeah" Responded Lila. "You don't have to worry"

"We can talk about it if you want?" Suggested Darwin and Lila turned her head away from him. Darwin sank his eyebrows and lied down on the ground near Rocky to make a nap just like the others.

* * *

In Adrien's clinic, he sat on his mother's bureau phoning with someone.

"You're describing to me a red fox, but we're looking for a Tomato fox. They're a type of dark red, you know like a Tomato." Explained Adrien over the phone. "And he's a male by the way….No problem, thank you for the call. Bye" Said Adrien putting his phone down and looked at Marinette, that sat on the chair looking at her phone.

"No one has seen him," Said the blonde to Marinette. "Listen, since you're going to leave this Sunday. What did you think to do now?"

"If Nathaniel doesn't show up in time, I might leave it to you, if you don't mind"

"Sure, I don't mind"

"You could call me if you find him and I try to get a flight back here to get him"

"Hopefully Lila shows up too"

"Oh and what if Lila didn't get pregnant?" Asked Marinette as Adrien had mentioned the vixen's name.

"It's up to you" Responded the blonde. "If you don't mind to borrow Nathaniel to us again to try the breeding to save their species"

"They really need to save their species"

"If the breeding is successful, we could create an open reservoir for them, which is then protected by the animal protection. They could live there without having to worry about hunters and their cubs would be safe too"

"Should Nathaniel be present during the parenthood?" Asked Marinette and Adrien shrieked as he forgot, that Nathaniel was Marinette's pet.

"Oh right, but if you can't he doesn't have to"

"Well I don't know, I see about it later," Told Marinette and received a phone call of someone. "Oh, it's my mom" Said Marinette and attended it.

"Hello mom" Greeted Marinette. "I'm fine and you….We,ll Nathaniel kind of run away with the other fox and we haven't found them yet" Told Marinette and kept listening to her mother. "What? But is that possible? He's been raised by us like a dog." Told Marinette and Adrien listened to Marinette as she mentioned that.

" _You know Nathaniel isn't like all the other foxes from YouTube you saw. Yours came from the wild as a pup, the others were cultured for years to be pets"_

"Yeah I remember"

" _If Nathaniel prefers to live in the wild, leave him"_

"I think he loves our home, he's probably lost somewhere here and can't find home. Mostly he's in a strange place"

" _Sure sweetie, but I just wanted you to know that"_

"Thank you mom"

" _Oh look I've got some guests, I call you later again"_

"Alright mom, bye," Said Marinette turning the phone off.

"Did you take Nathaniel from the wild?" Asked Adrien raising his eyebrow.

"Not exactly" Responded Marinette. "I found him in a cage above my house's roof and took him to the vet and I asked if I could keep him"

"Weird, shouldn't they have warned, that it was threatened to extinct?"

"I don't know, they didn't say anything besides, that it was a red fox" Said Marinette. "Oh right he's not a red fox"

"Okay, maybe they didn't realize the difference or didn't know about them," Said Adrien and Marinette shrugged her shoulders.

"Listen I'll be going. I wanted to go to the train station and look for any souvenirs to bring them to mom and Alya" Said Marinette. "And I see if I can find Nathaniel somewhere there"

"Alright see you later Mari" Said Adrien lifting his hand at her, while she waved back at him.


	16. Sicily

**Chapter 16**

Rocky woke up from his nap and made his way up to the open door of the wagon, taking a look at the outside. The train passed by a billboard showing names of the next few cities and one of them was Sicily, where they had to go out. Rocky walked up to the two foxes, which lied with their backs to each other.

Rocky poked them on their backs, waking both up.

"Are we here?" Asked Lila getting up.

"Only a few kilometers" Responded Rocky sitting down again.

"Great," Said Lila looking at Nathaniel, which was still sleeping. Lila poked him with her paw on his muzzle, making him open his eyes and rolling up at her.

"Uh hey" Greeted Nathaniel as Lila took her paw off him.

"Wake up, we're almost there," Said Lila walking up at the exit to observe the landscape passing by. Nathaniel stood up and walked to the vixen, sitting down next to her.

"Can I uh….talk to you?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila moved her head up, to think of, what to answer to the male fox.

"Alright" Responded Lila. "What do you want?"

"Well, I wanted to thank you for accompanying me up here with the others. I think if I went by myself I would have never found back"

"You're welcome" Responded Lila. "It was great to be with you. I haven't had been together with another fox since I lost my family"

"Yeah, I'd say the same" Said Nathaniel looking down along with Lila. Darwin and Rocky observed the two talking with each other and Rocky shook his head at the two.

"The way the two are going, there is nothing going to happen" Said Rocky looking at the raccoon. Darwin crawled his way up to Nathaniel and whispered into his ear.

"Uh Lila" Said Nathaniel looking at the vixen, having eye contact with her. "A...were you interested into move into a house with Marinette?" Asked Nathaniel earning a face palm from Darwin and an annoyed look from the vixen. Darwin pulled Nathaniel on his ear and whispered into his ear again.

"I mean were you interested to visit me sometimes when I'm back?" Asked Nathaniel making Lila look confused.

"But you said, you live in Paris?"

"Oh" Replied Nathaniel.

"Oh," Said Darwin too.

"But it would be great," Said Lila smiling a little at the fox.

"Yeah...the time with you was great," Told Nathaniel and saw Darwin walking behind Lila and pointing at Lila and he used his fist and hit on his hand, demonstrating him something. "You were uh….great"

Lila smiled at Nathaniel, then looked down at her paws. "Listen Nathaniel, you're a real cutie and I've been waiting for someone to ask me out, but…...I think…."

"Yeah, I get it," Said Nathaniel looking neutral followed by Lila. "You just see me as a friend and you're looking for something more steady….Or however, you call this with foxes. I might be the last of your kind in the world, but not the one you're looking for"

"Huh?" Asked Lila raising her eye brow. "What are you talking about?"

"Uh...I thought you wanted to say this…..or something alike"

"You're an idiot"

"I'm more of a bad guesser"

"No, how come you think of that?"

"I…...well…..I don't know…...sorry, if I've hurt you"

"You're sweet," Said Lila poking Nathaniel's head softly.

"I don't want to interrupt you two, but there's end station," Said Rocky showing the train passing by the platform of the train station. Nathaniel looked out of the wagon and saw Marinette sitting on a bench with her phone, making Nathaniel smile.

"Marinette!" Said Nathaniel and jump out of the wagon, making his way up to the girl.

"Aren't you going behind?" Asked Rocky looking at Lila, then she nodded and jumped down at the platform to walk to the direction Nathaniel ran.

Marinette was looking at her phone, who had her chat box turned on from Alya, waiting for her to finish typing her sentence. Marinette heard a familiar bark and looked to the ground and saw Nathaniel running towards her and jumping at her lap.

"Nathaniel!" Greeted Marinette picking him up and hugging him. "You're finally back," Said Marinette crawling Nathaniel's head. Lila observed Marinette petting the male Tomato fox and Nathaniel turned his head smiling like a happy dog then saw Lila observing Nathaniel with a neutral smile.

"Lila," Said Nathaniel and got off Marinette's legs. "Thank you so much for bringing us together again"

"No problem" Responded Lila with her smile turning sadder.

"Are you coming with us?" Asked Nathaniel looking at the vixen.

"No" Responded Lila down. "I….I already told you, that I live in the wild" Said Lila and Nathaniel lied his ears down.

"Right," Said Nathaniel pawing with his left front paw circles on the ground. "Will we ever see us again?"

Lila shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to Nathaniel walking away from him. "Maybe"

"Lila?" Asked Nathaniel a bit quietly and Lila turned her head back."I hope you found, what you've been looking for" Said Lila walking away from the two, that sat at the bench. Nathaniel observed Lila arriving by Darwin and Rocky, followed by the two glaring at Nathaniel and leaving the place, along with Lila causing Nathaniel to look sad.

"Come on Nath" Said Marinette picking Nathaniel up, into her arms. "Let's go back," Told Marinette the tomato red fox, while standing up and walking away with Nathaniel looking back at his friends making their way across the railway to another train wagon.


	17. Old Life

**Chapter 17**

Nathaniel was now back with Marinette and he sat on the outside of a hotel tied with a normal dog collar and his leash. Nathaniel looked at the door, waiting for Marinette and sighed. On the sidewalk a blonde appeared, stopping in front of the Tomato fox, which caught the guy's attention.

"Hey there Nathaniel" Greeted Adrien petting his head. "Did Lila stay back in the forest?" Asked Adrien and Nathaniel looked down sad.

"You liked her didn't you?" Asked Adrien and Nathaniel looked up tilting his head. Adrien walked into the hotel followed by Nathaniel's eyes, then he turned his head back and sank his head.

"I really should see a doctor, I think I caught something," Said Nathaniel and saw on the sidewalk a raccoon coming along his way. "Is that Darwin?" Asked Nathaniel and the raccoon stopped in front of Nathaniel giving him a hug.

"Great I found you!" Said Darwin. "How're you doing?"

"I'm fine I guess" Responded Nathaniel. "But I think I caught a disease, I haven't eaten my diner yesterday, I couldn't sleep well, I've got a strange feeling in my stomach, what could it be?" Asked Nathaniel while Darwin had listened to his talk, then wide his eyes and he probably knew, what it was.

"I think I know it boy," Said Darwin looking at the fox. "That's why I'm here. I'm bringing you back to Lila!"

"Lila?" Asked Nathaniel looking glad.

"I knew, that you were in love with her"

"Yes, I…..what did you say?"

"That's why you're feeling like this. You're in love, my friend. You have trouble to sleep, have a tingle in your stomach like they were thousands of fleas tipping around. That's love, what you got"

"I….uh" Said Nathaniel and turned his head back. "I don't know, what you're talking about"

"Don't need to hide it boy, why don't you come with me and tell her that?"

"But….what if she says no?" Asked Nathaniel and Darwin rolled his eyes.

"No man, she will reciprocate it," Told Darwin. "Trust me," Said the raccoon making Nathaniel smile excitedly.

"Where is she?" Asked Darwin. "Do you know that?"

"She's…..oh shit, I forgot to tell you, that she got kidnapped by Brutus and Rocky is looking for them.

"What?!" Asked Nathaniel shocked. "How come you just say that now?"

"I don't know, I forgot it. You responded, that you were fine and told me about those symptoms and I forgot to tell you after this, that I was supposed to tell you Lila was in danger."

"And where is she?" Asked Nathaniel.

"We need to look for her, but I know, which way Rocky went" Said Darwin.

"Good show me the way!" Demanded Nathaniel and Darwin ran on his four followed by Nathaniel, which got pushed back by his leash.

"Damn it!" Squeaked Nathaniel as he got pulled on his neck. "I got this around my neck"

"I take care of it" Said Darwin and started to nibble on the end of the leash near his collar, managing to cut it off. "Done!"

"Yeah now let's…" Said Nathaniel looking back at the hotel remembering of Marinette. "But what will be about Marinette?"

"She stays here, it's better for everyone" Responded Darwin. "Who knows, what could happen if she came"

"But she could help"

"You know Brutus is dangerous and I think your owner wouldn't be able to fight with a dangerous dog like Brutus"

"And are we?" Asked Nathaniel questioningly.

"We're predators, it lies in our blood." Responded Darwin. "We're three, after all, we will manage to stop Brutus"

"I hope you're right," Said Nathaniel and followed the raccoon on the sidewalk upwards the side Darwin had come.

Marinette and Adrien came out of the and Marinette shrieked as she saw the ripped leash on the ground and Nathaniel gone.

"Not again!" Replied Marinette.

"Come he must be around here somewhere when I got in he was here," Said Adrien pulling Marinette with him.

Inside a warehouse Lila sat inside a big cage alone, looking around the room, where there used to be other stray animals. Lila lied down dropping her ears and whined quietly.

"Where's your boyfriend bella?" Asked a voice and Lila rolled her eyes to see the black dog Brutus making his way along the corridor to her face. "Did he leave you?" Asked Brutus causing Lila to growl angrily.

"Don't worry, we get revenge about this" Said Brutus with a chuckle. "My owner only needs him," Said Brutus.

"Whatever"

"Come on" Said Brutus coming closer to Lila's cage. "You get freed after he's here," Told Brutus then started to use his nose to sniff something in the air.

"Oh," Said Brutus glaring down at the vixen. "You're on heat, aren't you?" Asked Brutus looking at Lila, which growled even more angry at Brutus.

"Leave me alone!" Hissed Lila glaring fatal at the tall dog.

"Brutus come back!" Demanded a voice and Brutus heard it.

"Duty calls" Said Brutus lifting his head up, having his eyes down at the vixen. "See you later," Said Brutus with a blink, then walked away from Lila. Lila sighed and lied down on the ground covering her eyes.

"Nathaniel, please where ever you are, I need your help," Said Lila and sobbed while she lied there all alone.


	18. Brutus

**Chapter 18**

In front of a warehouse sat Rocky observing a man standing in front of the entrance. Another man left the building and told the man at the entrance something, which the man agreed and saluted at him. Brutus came out looking at the man and the owner told Brutus something too and petted his head and the man walked into the car, leaving the place and the doorman looked at Brutus, which entered into the warehouse again.

Rocky lifted his ear as he heard something tapping on the ground, then looked back to see Darwin showing up with Nathaniel.

"There you are" Said Rocky as he saw the two predators standing in front of him.

"Sorry, I got us lost," Told Darwin scratching his head, embarrassed.

"Have you found Lila?" Asked Nathaniel looking at the tall stray.

"She's probably in there" Responded Rocky. "Brutus is also in there and he must be guarding here"

"Okay" Said Nathaniel looking at the guy guarding the entrance.

"So and how are we going to get into the building?" Asked Nathaniel. "Someone has to trick the guy?"

"I've had an idea" Suggested Rocky. "Darwin you're going to bite the guys leg and lure him away from there, I and Nathaniel enter into the building and Nathaniel goes look for Lila, while I take care of Brutus"

"Do you think you can handle him by yourself?" Asked Darwin.

"I try my best" Responded Rocky.

"I come back, if I lured the guy away from you"

"No Darwin, if Nathaniel saved Lila, you guide them back home and I keep holding Brutus back"

"Rocky, we don't want to loose you" Said Darwin. "I'm going to help you"

"And so I" Added Nathaniel. "You helped me go home and now I owe you something"

"You two are very good friends" Said Rocky. "But you two don't really need to help me" Said Rocky.

"I know" Said Darwin and made his way up to the man. Darwin stood on his hind legs looking up at the man. Darwin made some raccoon noises, making the man laugh then he bit the man on his leg, causing him to yell and threw Darwin in the air and landing on the bottom. Darwin chuckled making the man angry and he ran away with the man coming behind him.

"Good now it's our turn" Said Rocky and made his way to the entrance followed by the fox, entering into the building.

Both walked through a room and Rocky stopped near an open door, where the cages were for the animals and looked at Brutus making his way up to Lila's cage.

"There he is" Said Rocky glaring at the Mastiff standing in front of the cage from Lila. "Saving Lila from this side is roadkill, but if you go around the house to the other side, where that door is, while I lure Brutus to me"

"The back entrance of the house?" Asked Nathaniel looking at the stray, which shook his head.

"No, there's another way from the inside to the other side, I think it's there at the stairs" Whispered Rocky. "Go look for it now!" Demanded Rocky and Nathaniel ran away and Brutus, which was standing in front of Lila hear something and looked at the open door to see Rocky.

"Rocky!" Said Brutus astonished. "Glad to see you"

"Brutus" Greeted Rocky. "You look like you gained a bit of weight"

"That's muscles" Corrected Brutus making his way towards the stray.

"Lucky you," Said Rocky.

"Lucky why?"

"Yeah you get feed correctly or better you get to have food, while others like me have to search around the streets for something to eat"

"Well, it was better here in the fights," Said Brutus walking towards him. "At least for Asriel," Said Brutus glaring into Rocky's eyes, making him growl and attack Brutus.

"Ah!" Yelped Lila as she saw the two dogs fighting.

From the other side of the corridor appeared the male Tomato fox crawling slowly at Lila's cage. Lila observed Brutus bringing Rocky down and biting him on the neck, causing him to whine.

"Oh oh," Said Lila and she shrieked as something crashed against her net, which was Nathaniel climbing up to the lock and holding it with his paws.

"Nathaniel!" Said Lila happily as Nathaniel tried to unlock the lock with one of his claws from his paw finger.

"I will get you out," Said Nathaniel.

"Get out!" Yelled Lila.

"Wait I have to get this out" Said Nathaniel and got the lock open, then he got pushed down by Brutus.

"Nathan!" Shouted Lila then observed Rocky jumping at Brutus head, pulling him on his ear back, while Brutus had his fangs on Nathaniel's neck.

"Rocky, Brutus has his fangs on Nathaniel's neck!" Told Lila as she heard Nathaniel whining. As the three were a cage behind Lila's, she kicked the door open and ran to Brutus to bit him on his ear.

"Auuhh" Whined Brutus letting go of Nathaniel. Nathaniel ran away from Brutus then saw Lila attacking Brutus on his snout, while Rocky tried to pull the Mastiff to an open cage. Nathaniel observed Brutus trying to save himself from the two.

Brutus tried to shake his head with Lila clammed on his ear and threw her against a cage, making her yell.

"Lila!" Shouted Nathaniel as he saw her lying on the ground, then trying to stand up. Nathaniel growled and ran towards the Italian dog and bit him on the right ear, making him yell in pain.

"I'll help you!" Announced Lila running towards Brutus and biting him on the other ear. Rocky got under the body of Brutus and lifted him up in the air, making him fall down, followed by the two foxes.

"Lila, Nathaniel get out of here, I take care of Brutus," Said Rocky and Brutus bit Rocky on his tail, making him whine.

"Leave him alone!" Yelled Lila angry and bit him on his neck.

"Lila no!" Demanded Nathaniel as Lila hang over Brutus' neck. Brutus threw Lila on the ground with force, making her cry.

"Grrr" Growled Nathaniel and jumping at Brutus, followed by Brutus slapping Nathaniel with his front paw away.

"Get back Nath!" Demanded Lila pushing the fox on his tail.

Rocky ran around followed by Brutus and stopped in the middle of the corridor growling at the Mastiff.

"You will pay for that, what you did to Asriel" Hissed Rocky looking angrily at the black dog.

"His life would be useless anyway in the streets, you should be thankful for me to stopping his suffering here," Told Brutus and Rocky attacked Brutus, biting him on his snout, making him squeal like a dog.

"Who's Asriel?" Asked Nathaniel surprised looking at Lila, which shrugged her shoulders. Lila looked at her cage, she was stuck before and had an idea.

"Nath" Called Lila and whispered into his ear. "How?" Asked Nathaniel and she looked at the two dogs.

"Rocky! The cage!" Told Lila and Rocky threw Brutus to fall on his back, then pushed him on his collar.

"Nathaniel pull him on his hind legs!" Demanded Lila and grabbed his front legs while the male fox grabbed the hind legs and they pulled Brutus into the cage. Nathaniel jumped out of the cage, followed by Rocky and Lila cried as Brutus kicked her with his head towards the corner of the cage back, surrounding her.

"Lila!" Shouted Nathaniel along with Rocky.

"Now you're done piccolina," Said Brutus looking down at Lila, which started to growl at Brutus, warning him to leave her.

Nathaniel hissed behind Brutus and jumped on his back to bit him on his ears, pulling them up, making him scream.

"Lila get out of there" Demanded Rocky and Lila passed carefully under Brutus' legs up to the mutt.

"Nathaniel leave him," Told Rocky and Brutus shook his head, trying to get rid of the Tomato fox, then the vixen growled and bit the Mastiff on his tail, making him whine again. Nathaniel let his ears go and fell down on his face.

"Get out of there Nath" Mumbled Lila and Nathaniel ran out, while Rocky pulled Lila out of it and helped Nathaniel closing the door.

"No!" Shouted Brutus and tried to open the door, but Rocky hold it back with his body to not leave the dog out.

"Close the lock" Demanded Rocky.

"But the lock needs a key to close it," Told Nathaniel and Lila went on her hind legs grabbing the lock with both of her paws, putting the iron rod into the hole of the lock and sat back, after managing to close the lock easily.

"What?" Asked Nathaniel pulling on the lock, which was now closed. "Oh..."

"Good job guys" Complimented Rocky then at the entrance appeared Darwin making his way into the corridor.

"Guys, the man is still pursuing me" Said Darwin and the man appeared and saw the animals on the ground and Brutus imprisoned in the cage.

"Brutus," Said the man and saw the two Tomato foxes in the corridor with Rocky.

"Let's close him in one of those cages," Told Nathaniel and Rocky looked at Darwin.

"You and me buddy," Told Rocky earning a nod from the raccoon and ran at the man.

"No, no, no!" Shouted the man and Lila and Nathaniel looked at each other and ran across the corridor passing by the man to block him the exit. The man stopped as the two foxes blocked him the way, snarling at the man.

"Good foxes, you two are good foxes," Said the man walking backward slowly, scared from the two dark red foxes, then the gray mutt jumped from the side, shoving the man into a cage and Darwin closed the door, followed by Nathaniel closing the lock the way Lila did.

"Oh, it really works without a key" Said Nathaniel while pulling on the lock.

"Well done you two" Complimented Rocky.

"Yeah thank you for saving me guys," Said Lila. "And Nathaniel you did a really great job in fighting Brutus, sure it wasn't alone, but….you're not as bad as I thought you were," Told Lila making Nathaniel smile. "You kind of could survive in the wild"

"Uh thank you," Said Nathaniel smiling abashedly. Rocky and Darwin looked at each other, then Rocky had an idea.

"Tell us, why you joined helping to save Lila" Said Rocky looking at Nathaniel.

"Why?" Asked Nathaniel earning an amorous smile from the vixen.

"Yeah you told me that before," Said Darwin and Nathaniel sighed.

"I'm a stupid fox," Said Nathaniel.

"A very stupid fox" Corrected Lila making Nathaniel roll his eyes.

"I'm a very stupid fox, that doesn't realize he has a crush on the last female Tomato fox...I like you a lot, but while I live with Marinette it will be difficult to be together with you"

"Of course," Said Lila dropping her ears.

"Uh…." Said Nathaniel and looked at the gray colored animals, which have facepalmed.

A siren of the police ran from the outside, getting the attention of the animals.

"Looks like we got a visit" Said Rocky and they walked to the door and two police men appeared and pointed their gun into the corridor.  
"Hands up!" Shouted one of the police and saw Brutus and the man both in a different cage.  
"Look," Said the second officer pointing at Rocky and the two foxes. "That's the missing fox," Told the police pointing at the one fox with black collar, walking up to him. Lila walked backward along with Darwin and Nathaniel looked up at the police agent.  
"Come little boy, your owner is out there waiting for you," Told the policeman, which picked the male up onto his arms.  
"Let's follow them" Said Rocky and went behind the officer to the outside to find four police cars and a black car, where Marinette was with Adrien.  
"Nathaniel!" Exclaimed Marinette as the cop came with the fox to her, giving it to her arms.  
"Thank you," Said Adrien petting Nathaniel on the head.  
"Look isn't that Lila?" Asked Marinette as Lila passed by Nathaniel looking at him.  
"Lila," Said Nathaniel and Marinette placed the pet on the bottom to look at her. "I uh...well I sort of want to know, what you're going to do now?"  
"Going to the wild" Responded Lila. "And you?" Asked the vixen.  
"I wish I could come with you," Said Nathaniel sad, making Lila smile and nuzzle him.  
"So I," Said Lila giving Nathaniel a lick on Nathaniel's nose.  
Marinette and Adrien saw that then smiled at each other.  
"Will we see us again?" Asked Lila walking away from Nathaniel and he nodded.  
"So soon as possible I hope" Responded Nathaniel making Lila smile.

Another car arrived and it was the owner of Brutus, which saw the police, then got caught by two agents.

"Lorenzo Lombardi, you're under arrest for kidnapping and performing illegal dog fights," Said one of the agents putting handcuffs behind the man.

"Cazzo" Shouted Lorenzo pissed, as he was caught by the police. Rocky observed along with Nathaniel the guy been taken.

"Uh Rocky, about Asriel…..was he..."

"He was my son" Responded Rocky. "He was chosen by one of Lorenzo's men to bring him to fight with Brutus and he ended up loosing.

"Oh," Said Nathaniel with the ear dropping.

"Aren't you going behind Lila?" Asked Rocky.

"I wish I could," Said Nathaniel sad.

"You could sort of ask you owner to do that"

"If they understand me," Said Nathaniel looking up at the blonde and the bluenette.

One of the officers walked to Adrien and Marinette and looked at Rocky.

"Is this your dog?" Asked the officer and they shook their heads.

"I think he's a stray" Responded Adrien. "Probably one of the victims from Lorenzo's hand"

"He'd make a good guard dog," Said the man, making Rocky look surprised.

"After a check up….hey we could use a guard dog in our clinic," Said Adrien as he had the idea. "What do you think?" Asked Adrien and Rocky barked in agreement. Adrien saw Nathaniel looking at Lila walking away with her head down and Adrien noted, that Nathaniel could be sad, because of Lila.

"Mari?" Asked Adrien and showed her Nathaniel looking at Lila.

"He's sad about her" Said Marinette and looked at Adrien.

"Let him go" Said Adrien making Marinette look sad. "Don't worry, you've chipped him, if you want to visit him, you just need to follow our tracking device to visit them"

"Nathaniel," Said Marinette coming down on her knees. Marinette took his collar out, then petted his head. "Go with Lila, she will need you more than me," Said Marinette with a tear in her eyes. Nathaniel smiled and licked Marinette's face. "You're a good boy" Said Marinette and Nathaniel looked at Rocky and Darwin.

"Looks like we will see us more in future" Said Nathaniel looking at the two.

"Welcome to the wild" Said Darwin followed by Rocky chuckling. "Hope you enjoy your stay"

"Come and visit me you two, at my new home" Said Rocky.

"They're good persons Rocky, you will love it," Said Nathaniel receiving a smile from the mutt.

"And kid before you go" Said Rocky as Nathaniel was about to go.

"Don't forget to scream back at her" Said Rocky, making Nathaniel tilt his head.

* * *

Lila was walking all by herself in the forest, listening to howling inside the forest she got in. Lila sat down to take a look at the place, she was now and sniffed the location. Lila gave out two short barks, followed by a fox howling.

She heard a whine and looked around to see a little squirrel hidden near a tree root, scared of seeing her. Lila walked away from there, passing by more trees and some rocks and arrived at a little river with a small waterfall, that is connected to the river.

Lila took a sip from the river, then coughed a little bit, before she was going to say something. She opened her snout to release a short and a little bit high pitched scream to the nature. She let another one out and looked around, waiting for someone to reply back.

"What am I doing?" Asked Lila herself dropping her ears and lay down on the ground. Suddenly she heard a weird, deep scream from the inside of the woods, followed by a cough. "Huh?" Asked Lila lifting her ear up. The male voice rang again through the forest, which Lila could now recognize.

"Nathaniel!" Shouted Lila standing up and did her vixen scream, looking back into the woods and heard the male voice scream, coming closer making Lila smile and wag her tail. From behind a bush jumped a male Tomato fox getting one of his hind legs caught on the bush, making Lila laugh.

"You got to be kidding me," Said Lila making her way up to the fox, to free him.

"There you are" Said Nathaniel as he found Lila.

"I wasn't expecting, that you would come back," Said Lila. "Or that you would answer my mating call"

"I could somehow catch you smell and….what did you say?" Asked Nathaniel surprised.

"Yeah I said that" Said Lila sitting in front of him.

"Who….where you asking to mate?" Asked Nathaniel making Lila giggle.

"To whoever would answer my call" Responded Lila. "And I'm glad it was you," Said Lila nudging Nathaniel's nose, making him enjoy it.

"Well, that's….uh great," Said Nathaniel. "Uh where do you want to….uh mate?" Asked Nathaniel. "Or where do foxes usually mate?"

"Where ever they are" Responded Lila giving him a flirty look.

"Uh okay," Said Nathaniel looking around the place, then back at Lila.

"You're afraid?" Asked Lila looking amused at seeing Nathaniel's insecurity.

"Uh no of course not!" Lied Nathaniel making her laugh and give him a few licks on his cheeks. Lila stopped and poked Nathaniel's nose again, making him smile and he gave her a few licks on her neck, followed by a little, but not hurtful bite, making Lila groan.

"You're making great progress," Said Lila letting Nathaniel nibble on her.

A bird sat on the three observing them, then started to hit his wings to take off and flew towards the waterfall, making his way to another place and heard Nathaniel howling in pain.

"Careful, Brutus had bitten me here" Warned Nathaniel.

"Gosh it's not like he bit you down there," Said Lila with an annoyed tune in her voice.

"And now?"

"We have to hang like this to each other for a half hour"

"A half hour?" Asked Nathaniel. "Have you another idea, how to make the time pass faster?"

"Why don't you move your hind legs onto me like before?"

"You liked it?" Asked Nathaniel. "Oh okay, I'll try, " Said Nathaniel.

A while later both had stopped to talk for a while and in the end, animals could hear Nathaniel howl with excitement, causing a few birds to leave their trees, followed by some rodents leaving their dens to find a more quiet place.


	19. Ending

**Chapter 19**

Three months later Adrien sat inside his car along with Marinette driving into a national park, which they had bought a month ago. The park was specially made for the Tomato foxes Lila and Nathaniel, so they could repopulate and save their species from extinction.

"Three little pups," Said Marinette excited. "They must be very cute"

"Indeed," Said Adrien parking near a wooden house. "They're not much, but if we they keep mating every year and their pups too, we will have enough foxes to fill a kennel full with them….except we won't do that"

"Where are they?" Asked Marinette looking at Adrien.

"They could be in their den" Said Adrien then saw Nathaniel passing by and seeing both.

"Hey Nathaniel" Greeted Marinette receiving a bark from the fox. He went to Marinette, then stood on his hind legs pushing her on the legs and sat down, pointing with his snout to a tree near a river and Marinette nodded.

"He wants to show you his pride" Said Adrien making Marinette look questioningly, but she understood it and followed Nathaniel to the tree. Nathaniel arrived at the tree and looked into a hole, where there was a big space and in there lied Nathaniel's mate, Lila resting with three little kids lying near her belly, drinking and cuddling very close to each other. Nathaniel sat behind Lila giving her a lick on her cheeks, making her open her eyes to see her mate sitting down, observing her and the little kits.

"Aww they're so sweet," Said Marinette making Nathaniel smile proudly at his family. One of the smallest cubs, climbed over his siblings looking for another place to drink and Lila stopped him, then licked his kit on his head, bathing him with her tongue.

Marinette smiled at Lila taking care of her cubs, then looked at the smiling Nathaniel observing her mate.

"We will take good care of you and your family," Said Marinette earning a nod from the male, which lied down under Lila's hind legs, near his kits to give them protection if something harms them. Marinette smiled at Nathaniel's act and stood up, walking back at the wooden house, then got into it to see Adrien and saw him looking into a book.

"What are you reading?" Asked Marinette sitting next to him to see pictures of his deceased friend Lila Rossi.

"This is another book of her, where she had modeled for Rossi and some other brands," Told Adrien showing her the book.

"She is a really amazing model," Said Marinette looking at her pictures.

"She was" Corrected Adrien.

"Sorry" Apologized Marinette.

"No, I'm sorry for correcting you. I was right, but it wasn't the best moment to do that….uh I mean..."

"Shhh," Said Marinette placing the tips of her fingers on Adrien's lips.

"Thank you for insisting me, when I tried to put some of her books out"

"I have to thank you too," Said Marinette. "Without you, I wouldn't have found peace with the guilt of Nathaniel, Nathaniel Kurtzberg's death."

"Yeah, but remember they're still alive, right here," Said Adrien placing his hand in front of Marinette's breast, where her heart would be.

"You….just said that to touch me right there"

"Ugh no!" Responded Adrien blushing ashamed, then Marinette laughed at Adrien.

"Hahaha," Said Adrien crossing his arms annoyed.

"Alright I stop" Said Marinette followed by a chuckle. "And of course, thank you for having accompanied me last week to his grave. Without you not even today I would have passed by" Said Marinette and Adrien placed his hand on Marinette's shoulder.

* * *

 _Marinette and Adrien were in a cemetery walking on a footpath looking at the many tombstones of deceased people._

 _They stopped by a tomb, which was light gray, hat on the top a David star and on both sides, a flowers and two leaves were engraved with the star._

 _Down there was an engraved a Jewish text and down there said Nathaniel Kurtzberg with a picture of himself next to the name, a picture of him was placed, where he sat inside a Synagogue on the day, he did his Bar Mitzwa, wearing his kippah and Tefillin with his eyes focused at the altar of the Synagogue, rather than the camera of the photograph. Down his name, it said his birth date, to the day of his date and down he had a sentence._

" _Loved by his friends and family" Read Marinette and looked at his grave, filled with flowers from some friends, family members and a big one from his mother._

" _The worst thing on the day he died was also to see his mom crying at the hospital over his deceased body." Said Marinette to Adrien._

" _I believe you," Said Adrien and observed Marinette lying her bouquet of flowers over his grave. She went on her knees and looked at the picture of Nathaniel._

" _Uh..." Said Marinette holding her hands together like she was about to pray._

" _You're going to pray?" Asked Adrien._

" _I kind of wanted to talk to him….well you know that what the mourning consultant said"_

" _Oh, you don't need to hold your hands like that. You can simply talk"_

" _Okay" Said Marinette looking at the picture of Nathaniel, then took a breath._

" _Hello Nathaniel, how are you doing?" Asked Marinette looking at the stone. "About what happened to you, I'm so very sorry. I never ever, ever wanted, that you did this. But now I know, that it happened, because I never paid attention to you, helped you or listened to you. I know it's too late to say sorry, but I wanted to say it. I know I will never be able to change this, but if I could, I would definitely do everything different, than what I did. Maybe I knew how to save your life from all these horrendous things the others did to you."_

 _Adrien observed Marinette with a sad expression, then placed his hand on Marinette's shoulder petting her to calm down._

" _To find a friend with a heart as big as yours is rare and I wish I could have been a better friend. You were very daring to me, but I never showed you how much you mean to me." Said Marinette sobbing a lot. "I didn't deserve a friendship like yours...and you deserved something better than me"_

" _Marinette" Whispered Adrien to Marinette, which then stood up looking down at Nathaniel's tombstone._

" _Where ever you are, I hope you're having the life, you couldn't have down here," Said Marinette and Adrien accompanied Marinette away from the tombstone._

 _Up in the clouds stood a red-headed boy, who looked exactly like the redhead, Marinette had been crying over. Instead he wore white wings and a golden halo around his head._

" _Oh how much I wished it was," Said the redhead with a sigh. He looked back at his wings reading the same name from the tombstone from down earth and he looked down at the other side of the clouds, he observed a brown-haired girl sitting on the bottom of the cloud, sitting alone. The boy flew towards the girl landing beside her observing her long wings and her shiny yellow halo._

" _Hello" Greeted Nathaniel and the brunette turned around and it was the Italian, deceased friend of Adrien Lila Rossi. "Uh Lila?" Asked Nathaniel surprised._

" _Nathaniel?" Asked Lila and he nodded. "What are you doing here?" Asked Lila jumping up and giving him a hug._

" _I was asking the same to you," Said Nathaniel and Lila grabbed his face._

" _And how is it even legal?"_

" _Uh what?"_

" _How is it even legal for you to be this cute" Asked Lila petting with her thumbs Nathaniel's cheeks, making him turn red._

" _Now you should get arrested for that"_

" _Stop this" Said Nathaniel grabbing Lila's hands, causing her to laugh. "What are you doing here?" Asked the redhead._

" _Well on that night I told you I was going to dinner with the Agreste's, a rich family my family knows. On that night as my parent's assistant was driving me home we had an accident and I…..uh landed here"_

" _Oh that's why you didn't text to me the other days"_

" _Yeah," Said Lila sad. "I wish I could have at least been able to say goodbye to you," Said Lila sad. "And what happened to you?"_

" _Well," Said Nathaniel scratching his head. "The question is more, what I did," Said Nathaniel. "I jumped off the roof of my school"_

" _You committed suicide?" Asked Lila earning a nod from the redhead. Lila gave him a hard hug, making Nathaniel look surprised. "It's all my fault, why did I leave the Agreste's on that night?"_

" _Lila come on, it's not your fault. You didn't know it was going to happen or I. But it's not your fault, you were the only friend to help me"_

" _Better than your friend from down there?"_

" _Yeah" Responded Nathaniel. "Well, she admitted before in front of my tombstone, that she was sorry to not be a better friend, that she would have done it correctly if she knew this would happen"_

" _Nathaniel?"_

" _She also apologized for not being there for me, the moments I really needed her or someone"_

" _Nathy stop," Said Lila "Listen uhm she's now feeling better, since she apologized you….at the tombstone….why don't you take a break?"_

" _Like how do you know, I've been watching her for hours up there?" Asked Nathaniel making Lila giggle._

" _First you told me exactly now, that you did it and second I saw you up there"_

" _Sure," Said Nathaniel sad and Lila smiled then pecked him on his cheeks._

" _Uh wha….wha...why you did that?" Asked Nathaniel while forming his sentence incorrectly._

" _Because you're a sweetie" Said Lila passing her hand on his cheeks. "And the only friend I got in heaven for now"_

" _G….great" Said Nathaniel observing Lila's hand moving up and down slowly on his face. "Are we going to do something together here?" Asked Nathaniel and Lila thought about, what they could do._

" _What about if we free these puppies and kittens from the animal heaven and let them come here?" Asked Lila._

" _That's a bad idea Lila," Said Nathaniel to the brunette._

" _Come, they need to be free," Said Lila taking off._

" _Nope you're not going anywhere" Demanded Nathaniel then Lila took off flying towards another cloud, where the animals were._

" _This girl is really crazy" Said Nathaniel and followed her along the clouds, to stop her friend from doing something stupid, but he ended up joining her in that mess, which didn't actually bother god or any other angels from the sky, but make them all a bit more happier, now with the reunion of the animals._

 **The End**


End file.
